As the World Falls Down
by Lotus Butterfly
Summary: Dante wasn't prepared to find his feelings for Nero going beyond friendship. Half of him is trying to win Nero over while the other is trying not to ruin everything. And all the while someone else has their eye on one of them. Eventual DxN.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Looks like I got another chaptered story here. Yeah, I was gonna take a break and maybe let feedback from you guys tell me which story/idea I should pursue next, but inspiration won over procrastination once more.

This story is sort of a continuation/sequel to Tapestry of Decay. It isn't necessary to read that one before this. In all honesty, I had this plot outlined and tried to think of what to do with it, and figured that adding it into the Tapestry story would work best, because it gave me a catalyst for where this story starts. Updates for this one may be a bit slow in coming, but for me that equals a day or two between chapters instead of one every day, ha.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Devil May Cry or its characters. They belong to Capcom. Neither do I own the song I used for the title of this story (and for inspiration to get started). But I do have copies of the above for personal enjoyment.

**Warnings:** For this chapter? Language mostly. I intend for this one to go into full-blown yaoi eventually. Obviously the pairing will be DxN. And there will most likely be more gore in the future. That and I'm focusing more on Dante. And yeah...I intend to hurt him. Both of them.

**Dedication: **How about we just say this one is for all you reviewers. I mean, it is YOU all that I write for, isn't it?

Slow first chapter is slow. I won't take offense if you don't enjoy it.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Consider This  
**

The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon, painting the sky orange and red, lengthening the shadows; much like the one of a certain red-clad devil hunter making his way down the seedy street at a casual stroll.

Dante absently scratched at the stubble on his chin before tucking his gloved hand back into his pocket. He'd spent most of the afternoon on a mission and now that he was returning home, he couldn't help the sense of satisfaction filling him. Though, that satisfaction didn't come from defeating the demons, those had been easy enough. The real reason he suspected he was so happy to be heading home successful was because of who was waiting for him there.

Nero.

He smirked to himself as the Devil May Cry came into view. Over the past six of months the younger hunter had been staying with him, they'd already gone through a lot together. The most recent being when Nero was infected by that demonic parasite a couple weeks ago.

Dante shuddered anew at the memory alone as his steps sped up a bit, eager to get home. Ever since he'd had to sit and watch the kid deteriorate and then nearly die in his arms, not to mention the grueling days that had followed carefully watching him recover, the older slayer had become a bit paranoid; even going so far as to make the younger man sleep in his room until Nero was well enough to _adamantly_ refuse. Since that incident, he'd refused to allow Nero to follow him on any missions, though the teen seemed to be perfectly fine, and he suspected the punk snuck out while he was gone anyways.

He pushed open the doors and stepped inside the devil hunting office, noting that it had been getting freakishly cleaner by the day until it was literally spotless. A testament to Nero's absolute boredom. From the doorway he could see the kid sitting on the couch, something on the coffee table in front of him. Nero glanced up when he walked in and looked painfully relieved. Just one look at him could confirm he was well again. He wasn't deathly pale anymore and his skin had more of a healthy glow, the dark smudges around his eyes were gone and the empty look was replaced with that usual fire.

"Took you long enough, old man." He huffed, turning his attention back to whatever he'd been doing before the elder returned.

Dante shed his coat and put his weapons up before he went over to investigate what the younger had been doing today. "A puzzle, kid? Really? I didn't even know I had one."

"Yeah right, as if you would." Nero muttered, sending Dante that adorable glare. "I went out and bought this because I was sick of sitting on my ass and having nothing to do! I don't care what the hell you say; I'm taking the next job that comes in. You can come if you want."

"Alright, kid, calm down. I figure you've had enough rest…that and I'm worried you're going to start learning how to bake just to stay occupied. Then you'll officially be a housewife." Dante ducked the handful of puzzle pieces Nero threw at him, turning to retreat to the kitchen with a laugh.

"Screw you, old man!"

Checking his hair for any stray pieces, Dante shook his head at the enraged shout and finally got around to digging in the fridge to find some leftover pizza from a couple days ago. A curious sniff was sufficient enough to prove it was still edible, and the elder was content to grab a beer to go with it and head to his usual place at his desk, propping up his feet and snapping open the cool can.

"In all seriousness though, kid, you sure you're feeling alright?" the growl he got in reply should've been enough proof that Nero was. Every time Dante asked how he was doing, the kid would pitch a fit, but it was better than the few days after ridding him of that demonic parasite he'd spent with the younger completely silent. Even when Nero ended up in tears from lingering nightmares, he'd never made a sound. Didn't even complain about any pain he might've been in after the parasite was gone. Considering how long it took to just tell Dante what was happening in the first place, the more experienced hunter wasn't going to take any chances that Nero was hiding something that important again.

Though he supposed that was a bit hypocritical of him, considering he was keeping some serious shit from the kid himself.

Dante sighed as he watched Nero work at his puzzle, absently sipping at his beer and even forgetting about the cold pizza sitting on his desk. After that whole issue with the demonic parasite and the illness it caused, Dante had found himself suddenly hit with a wall of different emotions. Most of all, he'd felt guilty and responsible that Nero was infected and hurt in the first place. That protective streak had always been in him, but now it had grown exponentially. The elder man found himself always worrying over the kid now. But it went beyond simple concern. He wondered how Nero was feeling, yes, but also what he was thinking, until that friendly worry turned into something more personal. He'd even gone out of his way to offer the younger a hug whenever he might need it and got socked in the jaw for his efforts.

Amusing as that thought was, it couldn't break Dante out of this serious funk he'd gotten stuck in. Thinking about these rising emotions about Nero…hell, _for_ Nero, was always enough to wipe the grin off his face and drive him to brooding.

Which was all around annoying, because brooding just wasn't his style.

But even so, the famed devil hunter found himself just staring at the kid; sometimes for hours. Watched how Nero would flick at his snowy hair in annoyance when it got in his eyes, how pale pink lips would turn up just slightly at the corner when he found something Dante said amusing but refused to admit the elder was remotely funny, that endearing habit of scratching at his nose when he was embarrassed, even enjoying how that pale skin would flush red just before the kid tried to punch him for being an ass.

Every time those fiery, deep blue eyes locked on him, like they did right at that moment, Dante would quickly look away and feign disinterest. Not for fear of Nero getting pissed off that he was being stared at…but because he didn't want Nero catching him staring. He was still trying to straighten his confused feelings out, no need to give them away while they were a mess, and Dante had a feeling that they would be written plainly on his face.

Well…and maybe he was a bit afraid of getting hit. Nero had been particularly violent lately. Dante wasn't sure why, but something about the kid's shorter than usual temper was nagging at him. And it was just another reason why he constantly asked if he was alright.

He chanced another look towards Nero and smirked as he saw the younger hunter hunched over the table once more, a puzzle piece held delicately between two blue talons while he glared at the partially built picture as if he wanted to shoot it…and knowing the kid, he probably did. It was adorable how his mouth tightened into a thin line and his brows furrowed in intense concentration that really shouldn't be used on something as stupid as a puzzle.

Any further thoughts about openly taunting Nero about his puzzle were interrupted when suddenly the kid stood and flipped the whole table over, scattering the pieces and even kicking at a few for added satisfaction.

"Shit, kid, don't you think you could've spared my coffee table from your tantrum?" Dante was more amused by the seething glare sent his way than intimidated by it. He'd even go so far as to say that Nero's glares were cute.

His musings were broken when the younger hunter stomped over to his desk and stole the cold pizza he'd forgotten about.

"Hey! That was mine."

"Mine now, old man." Nero smirked.

Dante growled and lunged over the desk to try and take it back, a brief wrestling match ensuing. It ended when Nero licked at the two slices sitting in the box.

"Real mature, kid." The elder sighed in defeat as he sank back into his chair and just let Nero have it.

Feeling victorious, especially because that little argument had been the most excitement in his life in over two weeks, Nero offered to let the old man have one of the two leftover slices, but expected the denial of that offer.

"If I wanted your spit in my mouth, I'd just kiss you." Dante teased.

Nero scowled at that and turned to head for the stairs, ignoring the mess he'd left behind with that outburst over the stupid puzzle. It wasn't his fault that dumbass piece wouldn't fit when it clearly went in that one spot he'd tried over and over again. He decided he was just going to take his prize and retreat to bed. After all, he was finally going to get to go somewhere and _do_ something tomorrow, so he'd best get some sleep.

Which left Dante downstairs alone; pizza-less and brooding again over thoughts of what it would be like to actually kiss Nero and not just joke about it.

_Damn it, kid, I can't believe I'm losing sleep over you._


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** I'm officially fed up with FFN and its formating. Even if I format in Word, it usually deletes random bits when I upload the doc. -flips site the bird- alright, moving on. Here's the second chapter. The third chapter is giving me a bit of trouble, so it may be the first delayed update. Everyone seems to have enjoyed my latest oneshot, and I have a strong inkling that it's going to turn into a collection of fluff. For practice of course, heh heh.

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom. I only own copies of the games. And holy crap I forgot how much fun it is to flip around in the DMC2, lol!

**Warnings:** Language, mild violence (because I SUCK at writing action scenes), and what will be the start of attempting to make Dante suffer (it's going to be hard since he's so uflappable) and a Lone Ranger reference (what?)

**Dedciations:** This story is for everyone, but I'd like to give a personal shout out to **SirenaLoreley** cause I love getting reviews and you always leave one! Keep 'em comin!

Everyone please read and enjoy!

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**Chapter 2: Rejection  
**

The day started clear and bright, and just like the irritating sun, Nero had been chipper than ever. It was, to say the least, oddly disturbing to see the younger man so damn cheerful. Dante knew the kid was hard up to get out of the office and get back to work, but he hadn't thought he'd be _this_ happy.

Woe to Nero when the younger found that Dante had been doing all of the backup jobs and they had to sit and wait for a call if they were going to go anywhere. In hindsight, Dante felt a bit bad about doing all of those missions, especially because they'd been piss poor pay for minimal effort. Most of them weren't even in the city so he'd had to travel. But what was done was done. And hey, at least the elder slayer got the chance to see Nero exercise and stare intently at the phone like an eager child. It gave him plenty of fodder to tease the kid mercilessly.

Dante found, though, that his heart just wasn't in the efforts of making Nero pissed off. As expected, he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, too caught up in his own thoughts and feelings. Everything was so twisted, and he wasn't even sure if these feelings were real. They sure as hell weren't reciprocated. Nero seemed to like him well enough, they were roommates after all, and business partners, so there had to be some level of tolerance between them. But what Dante had a sinking suspicion about was that his newfound feelings wanted more than just a strained friendship between them. He didn't know when those feelings started or when he began to notice them. All he knew was they had his attention now and they were driving the elder hunter absolutely bonkers.

He was glad when the phone rang later that morning and they got a job. Going out and killing demons was a great way to take his mind off of this crap.

They gathered their weapons and coats and headed out to the car, Nero for once not complaining about not being allowed to drive. The teen hopped over the passenger door and landed in his seat with a grin. Dante shook his head as he actually took the time to open his door properly. He was digging the kid's enthusiasm and all, but watching him fidget impatiently was even better. As such, the more experienced devil hunter took his sweet time getting a comfortable seat, fiddling with the keys and stalling as much as possible until Nero reached over to take the keys from him and start the car himself.

"Hey, passengers stay on their side, punk."

"Whatever, you were taking too long." Nero huffed and sat back, arms crossed. In spite of his mulish response, the kid still had that grin on his face, blue eyes bright and eager for the fight ahead. "Let's hit it, Tonto!"

Dante paused in the act of putting his convertible into drive and raised an eyebrow at Nero, who started back at him with the same carefully blank expression.

"Wow, kid. I didn't know your cabin fever was _that_ bad."

"Shut the hell up and drive old man!"

Shaking his head, Dante finally stomped the gas and tore down the street. He had to get Nero to the mission site fast. If the kid had been watching old tv just to pass the time, then he definitely needed some fresh air.

Dante smirked after a moment and added, "But for the record, _you're_ Tonto."

-o-o-o-

They were greeted by a swarm of Scarecrows once they reached an abandoned district of the city. Apparently the businesses that had owned the area full of warehouses had gone bankrupt at some point and the new owner of the abandoned property had been chased out by the little bastards that kept appearing.

The low-level demons were milling about, a few breaking the intact windows on the buildings, knocking over stacks of crates and generally making a mess. If Dante didn't know any better, he'd say they were bored.

"Hey kid, you sure you feel up to this?" he asked tauntingly, only to see that Nero wasn't in the car anymore. The instant they'd stopped, the kid leapt out of his seat, retrieved Red Queen and went running straight into the fray, firing Blue Rose and knocking down a few of the Scarecrows.

That was enough to get the swarm's attention and they immediately cackled as if they were just as excited to see some action as the younger hunter. The demons leapt into action as well, meeting Nero halfway and though he was outnumbered, he didn't seem to have any trouble mowing them all down as if he'd never been sick.

Dante finally grabbed Rebellion and ran over to join in. Though he'd grabbed his sword, he stuck to his guns, rapidly killing the horde that was fast thinning out. Once there were barely a dozen left, Dante figured he'd be nice and let the kid mop the rest up, until the ground began to shake and the concrete lot began to crack apart.

"Looks like the big boy is ready to come out and play!" the elder hunter called out as he rolled out of the way of the much larger demon pulling itself out of the hole it had made. He watched it climb out and stand to its full height, which was rather impressive if Dante did say so himself. It was nearly the size of a three story building, its body that of a large bug, like an ant, though it had a face that was disturbingly human looking. It opened its mouth, a set of pincers ripping past the leathery lips and clacking together as it roared.

One look and Dante felt something rise in the back of his mind. With a feral grin, he looked to where Nero was quickly slicing through the remaining Scarecrows that were trying to retreat from the larger demon. "Yo kid, check this out!" he shouted, pausing only long enough to make sure Nero was watching, though the teen looked a bit irate to be doing so.

Certain he had the kid's attention, Dante turned back to the bug demon and lifted Ebony and Ivory, firing as he ran forward, easily dodging the needle-like legs stomping at him. He jumped all over the demon, shooting and taunting it, his red coat flaring out behind him as he effortlessly moved out of the way of any counter-attacks. He pulled out Rebellion to cut down a few of the demon's legs, which resulted in it only standing up straighter like a human on the legs that remained. Dante knew what he was doing, delaying killing the demon and making Nero watch while he did.

He was showing off. He wanted to _impress_ the younger part-devil.

Landing in front of the crippled demon that was now on its belly and roaring in fury, Dante sent Nero a wink before he adjusted his grip on Rebellion's handle and, in one smooth motion, the thick blade sliced the demon's body in half. A second swing quickly followed, promptly severing the creature's head in a spray of green blood.

Dante felt rather victorious and placed Rebellion in its place on his back before turning to the still observing teen with a bow. "So what do you think? Am I awesome or what?" Nero didn't answer, seemingly too awed to, or so the elder thought. He knelt down to retrieve the severed head of the ant-man while its body melted into goo. Dante walked straight up to Nero and dropped the head at the younger's feet, propping a boot on it, presenting the kid with his trophy.

Nero took one look before growling and wrinkling his nose at the leaking head. He backed away from the slowly growing puddle of putrid green blood inching towards his feet and covered his nose and mouth with his human hand. "That's disgusting, old man. Let's just go already." He huffed and turned to walk back to the car.

Left behind, the older hunter kept his nonchalant expression, but inside his heart dropped. At some point in the middle of the fight, he'd realized that his demon side had taken an opportunity to impress Nero with its skill and strength. He'd gladly gone along with the thought, thinking it would be fun, but now he saw what it really was all about.

His inner demon had recognized Dante's developing feelings for the kid and in response was trying to win Nero over as a mate.

Sighing heavily, he kicked the head away with a more force than was probably necessary. Nero's rejection of the gift had made his demon side angry. It kept growling what an ungrateful bitch the kid was, while Dante himself was just…stupidly hurt.

"You not hear me, old man? Turn up your hearing aid and let's _go_." The younger hunter called from where he was already sitting in the red convertible. "I want to get this demon blood off me pronto."

Dante tucked his hands into his pockets and slowly walked to the car, climbing in and starting it without any post-demon fighting banter. He just stared forward as they drove back to the office, trying not to think about how much shit he was in now that his demon had picked up on his feelings for Nero. That little show and present of a dead demon's head was just the beginning. And since it hadn't worked, he knew his demon side was going to get more aggressive in its pursuit to fulfill its host's silent wish.

"Hey, you feeling alright, old man?" Nero's voice broke his thoughts and Dante glanced over at the younger who was looking at him with more irritation than concern; an abrupt change considering how excited and upbeat the younger hunter had been before.

"Yeah, I'm fine kid." He brought up his usual grin. "I mean, you _did_ see what I just did, right?"

The attempt at taunting had worked and immediately Nero starting cussing him out for being a show-off, completely covering the fact that inside, Dante was a little heartbroken.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Since this chapter had been giving me so much trouble just to get started, I thought it was going to take longer to finish. However, my tenacity wins yet again.

**Disclaimer: **Don't own Devil May Cry or its characters. Only have copies of the games and seriously considering buying a Dante figurine (would that be going too far? lol!).

**Warnings: **A longish chapter with too much drabble, language (as usual) and a small bit of non-con smut (but I don't really like to call it that, because it totally isn't...not really...maybe a little...)

**Dedications: **For YOU. Yes. You. Right there. Reading this. I write this story for you.

Its a little bit of a cliffhanger, but I'm already halfway done with the next chap since I got up early this morning. So enjoy!

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**Chapter 3: Too Far**

Trying to keep Nero from suspecting anything was getting harder. After that botched attempt to woo the younger with a severed head two days ago, Dante had been doing everything he could to _not_ stare and instead found himself staring more than ever. The kid had noticed too. Nero was catching him more often and would always question what the hell was wrong with him. Dante didn't always have a satisfactory answer, so he'd divert to being an ass just to get the younger devil slayer riled so Nero would forget what they'd been talking about.

Namely, why the elder's eyes followed him wherever he went.

Dante was more aware of his devil side now that it had decided to participate in this unwitting, half unwilling courtship. It kept telling him to just take what he wanted. Who cared if Nero didn't feel the same way? _You don't wait for permission. You want something you take it, simple as that._

Except it wasn't as simple as that. Dante was slowly coming to grips with his feelings. They were, at this point, undeniable. He liked Nero. So there. Only problem withstanding now was the fact that he couldn't actually tell the kid how he felt about him. They were barely friends and while that whole incident with that demonic parasite had brought them a bit closer, the famed devil hunter couldn't help but get the sense that Nero didn't like him. At all.

_He owes us for saving his life. He should be grateful. Just take what you want from him as payment for that._ Dante sighed quietly to himself, slumping a bit in his chair; he propped his feet up on his desk and crossed them at the ankles. He'd been there pretty much all day, trying to figure this mess out while constantly having to stifle his demon that kept rearing up with the 'simple solution'.

"I'm not just going to rape the kid because you say so."

_Who says it would be rape? He'd probably like it._

"Right," Dante huffed dismissively, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, intending to nap and ignore his suddenly so chatty inner devil.

_I bet he would like it if we tried._

-o-o-o-

Later that night found the Son of Sparda sprawled out on his bed, buried under the thick covers and somehow managing to find sleep in the midst of his occupying thoughts. However, thanks to those thoughts, his dreams were affected and he shifted restlessly at the images his subconscious brought forth.

_For a moment all he saw was a mixture of color, unable to decipher any images in the melting kaleidoscope, but finally the dream settled into a single setting, one that made his heart race. He was in a bedroom; he didn't care if it was his or not because at that point he noticed Nero asleep on the bed, not a stitch of clothing on and no blanket in sight. It was definitely only something he'd see in a dream, but Dante didn't care, he just found his feet carrying him forward. He leaned over the supine form, seeing dark eyelashes pressed gently against pale cheeks as Nero slept peacefully, seemingly unaware of someone hovering over him._

_Dante lifted a hand to slide his fingers through that mop of silky white hair. He remembered this. Remembered what it felt like in reality, so incredibly fine and soft. And the way it smelled. Dante leaned closer and inhaled, able to detect the faintest scent of earthy flowers, vanilla and the tiniest hint of cherries. The kid's scent alone was mouthwatering, and Dante impulsively lowered his head to taste the warm skin._

_Nero finally stirred. The elder pulled back quickly, worried about this good dream going to waste because his mind was making every detail freakishly vivid and real. Instead of getting a glare or a punch though, Nero just smiled up at him and slid his arms around Dante's neck, pulling him even closer with instant acceptance; not even a second of hesitation._

_Was this what it could be like to have the younger hunter? To have someone who would wholly accept him no matter what? Man or demon, he knew Nero wouldn't care, but he didn't think he deserved to hope for something that, even just in his dreams, felt so incredible._

_The image distorted and then melted away into the mess of colors again, leaving Dante bereft of Nero's arms, unable to do much more than watch and wait for whatever would come next._

_What scene solidified next made his heart rate pick up again, but for an entirely different reason. That warehouse. The same one where he and Nero had fought that parasite infested corpse they thought was just an ugly demon. From where he was standing, he could see Nero's devil bringer flare brightly as the kid grabbed at the creature's leg, keeping it from fleeing once again._

_Dante found himself going completely still, as if his feet were frozen. Just like before, he'd been distracted, he didn't keep a close enough eye on Nero and he was grabbed by the demon that leaned over the younger hunter's smaller form, obliterating him from view. He tried to run across the floor, but not matter how fast he ran, he didn't get any closer._

_The creature melted away and Nero was left kneeling on the floor, both hands pressed against his middle. Dante called out his name and the kid heard, lifting his head slowly. That same empty, hopeless look was back in those blue eyes as Nero lifted his hands, both covered in blood. A dark stain began to spread around him as he slumped forward while Dante kept trying to get to him. His feet finally moved forward and he quickly closed the distance between them._

_But even so, by the time he got to him, Nero was dead._

Dante woke with a small start, staring up at the darkened ceiling of his bedroom as he tried to catch his breath. His heart hammered against his chest for a few moments, but he finally managed to calm down once he realized he was really awake this time.

"Fuck…" he muttered, rubbing at his face and sitting up, tossing the blankets aside and getting to his feet. He stumbled a bit, not entirely conscious, but he had to go and make sure Nero was alright. Of course, he knew it had just been a bad dream, but all the same. His mind wouldn't rest until he saw the younger in his bed, breathing quietly. Hell, just breathing at all.

He exited his room and shuffled slowly down the hall, trying to not bump into the wall and make a lot of noise. Unlike the elder, Nero was a relatively light sleeper unless he wore himself out. Dante half growled at himself for the thoughts that came up on just how he could wear the kid out. Now wasn't the time for that.

The door was closed completely, but Dante made the arrogant conclusion that Nero wouldn't lock his door and was proved right when he twisted the knob and it swung open easily, if noisily. The hinges squeaked a bit and he winced, carefully pushing it open just enough to slide through. Once inside, Dante looked around. The spare room hadn't changed much since Nero moved into it all those months ago. Months that felt like years. A lifetime, really.

There were a few of the kid's dirty clothes strewn on the floor, a couple of the drawers of the narrow dresser were half open, but it only came across as lived in, not messy. Dante paused to simply draw in deep breaths, taking in as much of the younger's scent as he could. It had been faint in his dream, because his memories of it were faint, but in this room it was much stronger. He bit back another growl at the pleasing aroma enveloping his senses. Again he'd let himself get distracted by his own thoughts and wants. He was here to check on Nero, not just breathe like an ass.

Dante went over to the old bed, smiling a little as he saw only the top of Nero's head and the gently pulsing blue outline of his devil bringer under the blanket. He didn't know that the kid slept with his head under the covers. It was kind of cute. The smile faded as another thought occurred to the devil hunter. _He could've pulled them up because of another nightmare and he just didn't want to say anything about having bad dreams._ That sounded a lot like something the tight-lipped punk would do.

Shaking his head at the thought, Dante told himself he was just pulling down the blankets to make sure the kid was sleeping peacefully. Then he'd hightail it back to his room and get back to sleep before he dropped there on Nero's bed and passed out. He slowly peeled back the top of the blanket, tucking it in gently around the younger's bare chest. Nero had his head turned away from the elder, but even from where he was standing, Dante could see that he was fine, the soft angles of the teen's face relaxed. He got caught in just watching that chest rise and fall steadily, slow and even. So, no nightmares then?

The older half-devil saw that without his conscious consent, his hands had tugged the blanket down even further, tucking it in around Nero's narrow waist. Icy blue eyes nearly glowed in the dark of the room as they greedily drank in the bared expanse of pale skin. Maybe he'd just touch it. Just a little. Just this once.

His venturing palm encountered warm skin that was just as soft as it looked. Dante wasn't even aware of the deep purr of pure pleasure that left him as he gently stroked at Nero's chest. He should've been worried about waking the kid, but other than shifting a bit and sighing through his nose, the younger didn't stir. Feeling brave, Dante leaned down until his lips were hovering barely an inch over all that delicious skin, nose tingling from the sweet smells of vanilla and cherries with that undertone of earthly, fresh cut flowers. He pushed the blanket a bit further down, able to see the waistband of Nero's blue boxers but that wasn't what gave him pause.

Just above Nero's navel and about an inch to the right was a small, silvery scar.

Dante's eyes widened as he lightly ran a finger over the slightly raised, x-shaped mark. Nero had been scarred by that parasite? He hadn't known, Nero always slept with a shirt on when he'd made the younger sleep with him…he'd thought the kid healed completely. But then, the younger had even less demonic blood than Dante. That mark reminded the more experienced hunter just how…fragile Nero really was.

Against better judgment, Dante nuzzled the small scar, feeling the lithe muscles under Nero's skin clenching in response. His eyes went back up to the teen's face, red slowly leeching into the sky blue. Feeling that had only made the elder hunter think about how those clenching muscles would feel in an entirely different situation. A slow breath escaped him in a growl as his demon side came to the forefront again, and Dante was just too tired to force it to heel and behave.

He straightened and crawled onto the bed, hovering above Nero and watching as the younger's brow furrowed slightly, murmuring something. Without the inhibitions of his human side, Dante just yanked the blanket away with a flourish and leaned down to lick at the scar he'd discovered, teeth scraping over it. He didn't take notice or care when Nero jumped a bit and started to stir, he just slid down lower and peeled off the boxers that were in his way. Another growl escaped once the younger hunter was bared to him. His dreams hadn't come even close. At least now he had memory of the real thing to draw on.

_After tonight, we won't need to fantasize._ His demon side scoffed arrogantly before he nuzzled a sharp hipbone, nibbling on the ridge and faintly hearing Nero beginning to pant.

The younger man wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not anymore, not quite able to surface completely from his dreamy landscape. He could've sworn that Dante was in his room, but that might have just been his imagination. He couldn't tell what was real at that point, all he knew for sure was that his body was slowly heating up and his skin was tingling. Little sparks of electricity seemed to dance up and down his spine, making his heart pound so he was forced to breathe harder to keep proper oxygen in his lungs.

Nero's eyes opened slightly as he tried to focus on something, only able to see a blur of gray as his body stirred, all of the heat that had risen in his body seeming to suddenly center in his groin as he grew hard. If this was a dream, it was apparently going _that way_ and Nero only groaned quietly. The young part-devil jumped slightly when he felt air brushing over the head of his erection, trying to get his eyes open more when they snapped shut as heat engulfed him. His head fell back onto the pillow and he moaned at the slightly rough suction, body writhing instinctively under the unknown pleasure. _This dream is awfully realistic…_ Nero thought wildly before his eyes shot open as the heat left him. Finally he managed to bring the ceiling of his bedroom into focus. He glanced down and saw a head of silver hair between his legs. It wasn't that odd that his dream would star Dante of all people, doing this of all things to him – he'd had those kinds of dreams before - but it was just so vivid, so…

_Wait a minute._

Nero realized quickly that he wasn't dreaming. Dante really was in his room, between his legs and stroking his tongue over the underside of the teen's cock with zeal, looking as if he were in heaven. His breath caught at the sight and he almost just let it happen. A part of him wanted it to happen, wanted to encourage more, to have this outside of his night-time fantasies.

But rational thought won over and Nero drew his knees up and placed his feet flat on Dante's broad shoulders.

Dante glanced up when he noticed Nero was fully awake, the fact that he hadn't instantly thrown the older man off encouraging his demon and it took that much more of his control. He continued his ministrations, smug that Nero did seem to want it. _The simple solution is always the best._

When the younger hunter pulled up his legs and placed his feet on his shoulders, Dante admitted he was curious, but since he still wasn't rejected, he didn't think much of it, about to take Nero into his mouth again.

At least, until Nero suddenly kicked him across the room.

Dante collided with the wall hard enough to make white explode over his vision, his teeth rattling from the force of the impact. The elder groaned as he slowly slid down to the floor, only now noticing that Nero's kick had probably given him a concussion, and one of his shoulders was out of the socket.

With a growl, Dante shoved his shoulder back into place and looked up to see Nero sitting up on his knees in the middle of the mussed bed, snowy-white bangs hanging half in his eyes, but they did nothing to cover the way his face was still flushed red.

Or the fact that Nero was _seething_.

"What the _fuck_, old man!" Nero snapped before he rolled off the bed, modestly covering himself as he ran out of the bedroom to the bathroom, slamming and locking the door. Anything to get away from Dante.

Said man was left where he'd landed on the floor, with only the thought that he'd just ruined everything.


	4. Chapter 4

_GEE-ZUS. I went to check my email this morning and I had an inbox jam packed with favorites, alerts and reviews! Thank you guys, so so much!_

**A/N: **This chapter came to me fairly easily. It's much shorter than what I usually write, but it was necessary filler. This time around, we're going to focus on Nero, get a sense of his feelings in all this. I tried hard to touch on the differences (and similarities) between how Nero thinks as a person, and the instincts that drive his demon side. Since he's more human than Dante, I figure he wouldn't be used to it having its own opinion.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **In this chapter we have the usual bad language and a bit of solo at the end. Beware, the mansex is fast approaching.

**Dedications: **To all my reviewers and lurking readers, old and new alike.

A freak blizzard has us snowed in, so my weekend may be extended. That just means I can write more, so ENJOY IT

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**Chapter 4: Plaguing Thoughts**

Nero sat on the bathroom floor, knees pulled up as he rested his forehead on them, his ragged panting echoing quietly against the tile. He was trying to collect his scattered thoughts, trying to rationally absorb all that had just happened moments before in his bedroom.

He was the first to admit that the reason he'd kicked Dante off wasn't because he'd been disgusted or afraid or even angry. No, his reasoning went in a completely different direction.

He'd been offended.

Offended that Dante didn't _wake him_ before going down on him.

The teen wondered if he'd been giving off mixed signals that the old man picked up on. It would certainly explain why Dante had been staring at him for days. As creepy as the thought was, Nero found it oddly comforting that the elder had always kept him in sight. But something about the way those eyes felt on him gave away that it wasn't just about watching over him.

Absently rubbing at his chilled arms, Nero relived what Dante had done to him, every detail still fresh in his mind, and it made him shiver in remembered pleasure. A small voice in the back of his head said it wanted more. It didn't surprise him; ever since he woke up after that fucking parasite had left him, deciding to try and take its host out with it, and saw Dante there taking care of him, he'd been plagued by thoughts similar to the ones he was having now.

At first, his human mind had balked at the thought of having feelings for another man. Though he'd left Fortuna behind, he couldn't completely shake all of the beliefs and lessons the church drilled into the citizens' heads from birth. Dante as a person wasn't all that bad though. Sure, he ate too much pizza. He might enjoy killing demons a bit too much. He may even get off on teasing the hell out of everyone he knew until they tried to mortally wound him. But Nero knew firsthand that the old man was also caring.

Nero rubbed his human hand over his face, looking down at his demonic right arm, seeing it was pulsing faint amber instead of the usual blue. It had been doing that a lot lately and Nero wasn't entirely sure why, but since it only did that when he thought too much about Dante like this, he figured that had something to do with it. The sight reminded the younger of another oddity he'd been experiencing lately. Namely, the usually quiet demon inside of him was more noticeable than even when he'd first triggered. He could feel it moving just beneath his skin, the voice so painfully clear and sentient. And it was always coming up with rational reasons why his feelings for Dante were _inevitable._

It would go on and on about how pleasing it was to live with a mature demon, that it was the right thing to fall for him. Nero's inner devil found nothing objectionable about Dante. In fact, if anything, the older hunter was the perfect prospect for a mate. He was skilled, experienced, had a vast territory in the city, had proven that if something happened to Nero, he wouldn't just leave, and though it was usually messy and kind of run down, Devil May Cry was even acceptable as a nest. Most importantly of all, Dante was p_owerful._ And the younger's demon _adored_ power. Coveted it.

If he possessed Dante, he could - in a way - possess that same immense power.

Nero shook his head and finally made himself stand. He was tired of thinking about all of this crap. Once he stood, though, a discomforting fact was brought to his attention. He was still hard from Dante half assaulting him.

With a groan, the younger part-devil went over to the shower and twisted on the warm water, intending to wash away the lingering aggravation and confusion clouding his mind. And then maybe try and get back to sleep. He'd been feeling abnormally tired and achy lately. No matter how much sleep he got, he felt like he needed more, and it had been making Nero cranky. After he stepped into the shower, the young man concluded that a lot of his crankiness stemmed from bluster to cover his fear. He was worried that something else might be wrong. Maybe some part of that demonic parasite was still in him and growing again, though he'd yet to start throwing up oil and that nasty taste wasn't in his mouth, so there was hope.

But with that out of the picture, Nero had no clue what else could be wrong with him. Even the shower's spray seemed to be annoying him rather than being relaxing. He figured a lot of that aggravation could be the neglected erection still straining for some form of attention. Didn't take long for him to decide to just take care of it and go back to bed. He was pretty sure by now that Dante had left his room. And no, he didn't feel bad about kicking the pervert into the wall.

Nero leaned against the wall of the shower, eyes slowly closing as he ran a hand down his chest to his stomach, trying to ignore the small scar he felt scraping against his palm along the way, not wanting to think about that right now. His fingers curled around his still hard cock and gave a few lazy strokes, thumb lightly rubbing over the sensitive head. Except that didn't feel like it was enough; sure it felt nice but, and he was a bit irate to admit it, he'd much rather have Dante's mouth there again instead. Releasing a heavy sigh, Nero leaned his head back and let his mind conjure up a mental image of the older hunter. If it would get him off so he could go back to bed, he'd think of Dante.

He shuddered as he recalled the damp heat of the other's mouth, absently moving his hand a bit faster, adjusting the loose grip so it felt more like tight suction. His breath started to come in short pants as heat began to pool low in his abdomen. Nero groaned at the mental image built off of the reality, squeezing his hand a bit harder as his mind took him back to his bedroom, imagining writhing on his back and looking down to see Dante's red-rimmed eyes staring back up at him as he sucked the younger off roughly.

Nero felt his back arch suddenly, moaning Dante's name as he came in a dizzying rush, continuing to move his hand idly until he was completely spent and pulled his hand away. He leaned against the shower's wall for a minute longer, simply regaining his lost breath, eyes opening halfway. _I can't believe I couldn't get off without thinking about that fucking perverted old man._

After rinsing himself off, Nero turned off the shower and stood there, watching the remaining water swirl down the drain with a quiet gurgle. His ears tuned into the dripping showerhead but his mind was back to thinking about Dante. He wasn't mad anymore, not really. In all honesty he never had been in the first place, he'd just been on edge for the past week and he blamed being cooped up in the office for so long.

No, he wasn't mad. He was just…confused; about what he was going to do now that he realized he had serious romantic notions about the older half-devil he lived with. Groaning at the memories of the night, Nero covered his face with both hands, suddenly embarrassed.

_Great, how am I supposed to look him in the eye now?_


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm uploading a second chapter today because the last one was short and I like to cater to you other insomniacs who find yourselves up all night with nothing to do so you read fanfiction._

**A/N:** The first half of the story is about to start winding down, but the second half is already underway of being written, so no worries there. This part of the story is where the unoriginality kicks in, but you know, what I'm about to do to Nero, everyone has to try at least once. That and I'm hoping my portrayal will be a little different in enough aspects to stand out. We'll see. And ya know...for some reason this chapter just feels...'eh' to me. Not sure why, because I'm totally pleased with how it came out. Must be because I wrote it with a migraine imploding my brain.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings:** Language, mild OoCness

**Dedications:** To the readers! And for insomniacs around the world!

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**Chapter 5: Fickle Hearts**

When Nero woke the next morning he felt surprisingly great. He was a little too warm, but kicking off his blankets fixed that problem easily enough. The strange aching sensation was gone, replaced with a serene contentedness and he stretched lazily, eyes closing again in bliss as he acutely felt every muscle in his body contract and relax with the movement. Wow, he'd never felt this good after a night of sexual assault and jacking off in the shower…but then, last night had been a first for him.

For once not cranky and feeling well-rested, he rolled out of bed and dug around for clean clothes to get dressed. The memory of last night reminded him of the awkwardness that was inevitably going to be between him and Dante, but he felt confident that he'd thought things through pretty clearly and blushing while hiding like a girl wasn't his style. It was going to be weird, but he just had to accept his feelings for the elder man. If even after what the jackass did last night wasn't enough to make those feelings change, then Nero didn't stand a chance of changing his own mind.

Only problem now was what to do about it. Should he tell Dante how he felt? He didn't want to be that forward if Dante didn't feel the same. After all, he vividly recalled those red eyes. It hadn't been the older man touching him like that last night, but his demon. Unrequited feelings meant possibly ruining their friendship. Sure it was a twisted sort of companionship, but the younger hunter wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

Nero decided he felt too good at that moment to worry about it too much. Besides, Dante wasn't even going to be awake for a couple hours, it was still early. He had time to prepare for that unavoidable confrontation. After he finished dressing, he left his room to head downstairs and find some food.

What he found instead was Dante dressed in all his hunting gear and tucking Ebony and Ivory into their holsters under his trademark red coat.

"Where are you going?" Nero asked quietly, almost unable to get the words out from the shock of seeing the other man already up and gearing to go.

"Got a job." Dante replied without looking over at him, pulling Rebellion off the wall and sliding the sword onto his back, turning for the door.

"A little early for you, isn't it, old man? Thought you'd need your beauty sleep." The younger man said quickly, trying to keep his voice level as he found himself following close behind Dante, heart beating a bit faster as all of the things he'd been thinking and feeling came flooding to the forefront. He apparently hadn't accepted things as well as he'd thought, but he tried to keep it cool.

Dante paused then, the door already half open as he looked over his shoulder, surprised to see Nero nearly pressed against his back. He'd thought the best course of action was to get up and go somewhere, anywhere, and just give Nero a chance to cool off. He'd hoped to escape before the kid woke, and the sound of Nero's footsteps on the stairs had him hurrying to get out the door and out of the line of fire. Except the expected fury didn't come. Nero didn't charge down the stairs and try to kick his ass. If anything the younger was surprised to see him, maybe a little bit pleased too, but that could just be his desperation projecting onto the situation. No anger or heated words, not even a curse. Maybe he didn't ruin everything after all?

"Just thought I'd get an early start after last night," he stopped himself there as he recalled his loss of control and quickly looked away, stepping outside. Leaving was still the better option to him. "I'll be back later." And he closed the door before Nero could say or do anything in reply.

Nero stood on the other side of the double doors, both palms pressed against the aged wood, his nose nearly touching it he was so close, eyes slightly wide. He'd thought things were going to be awkward, and he'd been right, but the teen definitely hadn't expected _that_. He honestly thought he just wouldn't be able to look Dante in the eye, thought he'd be too embarrassed to while avoiding the topic of what happened as long as possible. Instead he stood there alone and feeling…rejected.

Shoulders slumping a bit, Nero heard the talons on his right hand scraping down the door, leaving marks in their wake as both hands slid down to hang limply at his sides.

"Dante…"

-o-o-o-

Dante wandered the streets for a good hour, constantly considering going back to the office. Nero didn't seem to be mad at him anymore and that same something about the kid's behavior lately was still nagging at him, making that overprotective streak fill him with the urge to go and hover over the younger man until the feeling that something was wrong went away.

He felt edgy and he blamed that entirely on the fact that he was guilt-ridden about letting his control go out the window, leaving his demon free to take charge. Of course, the human side of him wanted to molest the crap out of Nero too, but that side of him at least had more control. Or so Dante used to think. Lately it seemed his devil side had more control and that was never a good sign.

In all his musings, Dante hadn't gone more than a couple miles from Devil May Cry. Again his inner demon was proving to be the stronger-willed one, trying to pull him back towards the office where Nero was. Growling at himself, he finally decided to just give in and listen to it. He'd have to face Nero about what happened eventually, might as well be now. He barely took a dozen steps before freezing at the familiar scent of demons coming from quite a distance away.

"Of course. Always picking the least convenient times to show up. Damn demons," Dante huffed, looking almost longingly back towards home before sighing disgustedly and reaching back to grip Rebellion's hilt as he jogged in the direction of the demons.

_Bring him another gift. A whole body this time. A dozen of them! Watch him try and refuse us then!_ His demon suggested.

"Shut up." The famed devil hunter said to himself.

-o-o-o-

Left alone in the office yet again, Nero managed to pull himself away from just staring at the door like a dog waiting for its master's return long enough to find his forgotten breakfast. Only to find that his appetite was lost. He felt a brief twinge of fear at the familiar circumstance, but told himself not to overreact. He'd admit things were complicated and a bit stressful right now, so it would make sense he wouldn't feel much like eating, especially since his feelings were stupidly hurt by Dante just leaving him.

"And to think I was considering making some kind of sappy confession to the jackass." Nero muttered as he slammed the fridge door closed. There wasn't really anything to eat in there anyways, so it was just as well he'd lost his appetite.

With nothing else to do, the young man wandered around the office, retracing steps he'd paced a million times already. He was so sick of being left behind, of being _alone._ The contented relaxation he'd felt upon waking was gone entirely now. In its stead was a surge of restless energy and wave of stifling heat. The walls felt like they were starting to close in on him and it took an hour or two of pacing before Nero grew fed up, yanked on his boots and ran out the door, sans coat. It was still a bit chilly out what with spring just beginning, but he didn't even feel it, too overheated to bother with an extra layer.

Nero sighed a little in relief after he ran down the street for a bit, eventually slowing to a walk and linking his hands together behind his neck. All of this cabin fever was starting to get to him. To the point where he was actually getting a _real_ fever?

"If that isn't sad, I don't know what is," he grumbled to himself, kicking at a rock as he dropped his arms. With nowhere to go, but not willing to go back to the office anytime soon, Nero began to wander a bit, hands tucked into his jeans pockets. He knew the area around Devil May Cry fairly well by now, but he'd yet to really explore further parts of the city. Today seemed as good a day as any to do so, but his heart wasn't into sightseeing. Instead it was clenching up in his chest until it felt like a rock. _Dante._ All that was on his mind was Dante. Dante. Dante. _Dante!_

Alright, so maybe Nero more than had 'feelings' for the old pervert. Maybe he was madly in love with the asshole, so what? Why did that mean he had to be plagued by these doubtful, worrisome thoughts?

Why did realizing he loved Dante make him feel more alone than ever?

The confirmation that he was lonely stuck with Nero for most of the morning and into late afternoon as he continued to walk street after street, each one less familiar than the last. Just as he thought he was officially lost, he stepped out into an empty intersection. He looked up at the nearest street sign and smiled without humor. _Even if I walk myself in circles I always end up back here._

Nero shook his head and started down the deserted, litter-strewn street, a lone figure walking amongst the slowly lengthening shadows as afternoon bled into early evening. Maybe Dante was back by now. At least then he wouldn't be alone. He'd take any awkwardness that would come with it, anything to have company. _To have Dante's company, you mean._

He frowned at that voice in his head he was becoming more and more familiar with. He didn't know why, but he was keenly aware of his demon today, even more than he was last night. It seemed to be slowly taking control without him even noticing.

While he'd thought about that, his feet carried him back to the devil hunting office and Nero trudged up the steps and slipped inside. Only to find that the place was still empty. "Dante?" he called out, looking up at the landing at the top of the stairs, wondering if the old man had crawled back home for a nap. Except he usually napped behind his desk or on the couch.

Nero found he was desperate enough to ignore that logic and jogged upstairs to peek into the elder's dark, messy room.

Empty.

Defeated, the young devil hunter trudged back down to the ground floor and half-heartedly kicked off his boots before falling face first onto the couch. Dante wasn't back yet, but it was starting to get dark out, so he'd probably be back any minute. Nero would just have to wait until he came home.

He sighed despondently and nuzzled into the couch, body suddenly growing overheated and heavy, skin feeling tight and a little itchy as that same restlessness returned full force.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N:** And so the unoriginality continues. Some of you may have seen this coming, others probably hoped for something better, but like I said before, everyone's gotta try this at least once, am I right?

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom

**Warnings:** Language, mild mentions of demon death and blood, and an overplayed idea (think that's pretty much it).

**Dedications:** This one is for my roommates for leaving me unattented with snickerdoodle cookies all night. Without which, I might never have gotten out this chapter and the one that follows it so fast.

Read! Enjoy! I...need to get some breakfast...

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**Chapter 6: Bigger Problems  
**

Dante didn't come back.

Nero woke on the couch, feeling stiff from passing out on the worn piece of furniture that was torturing him with the scent of the older half devil and the stale smell of pizza…which only made him think of Dante anyway. He sat up and rubbed at his face, wondering why his vision was a bit hazy on the edges. And why he was so damn hot. Fanning himself, Nero got up and went to the kitchen, bending over the sink to splash icy water on his face. It worked for about two seconds before his face flushed even more.

He sighed and hung his head, wondering what the hell was up with him that he would be so overheated. And that tight feeling that made his skin itch had only gotten worse. He fidgeted where he stood at the sink, foot tapping as his entire body swayed back and forth, unable to remain still.

"Damn it," Nero snapped and pushed away from the counter, pacing back into the main office area and considering going outside for a run or something. It was cooler outside and it would give him a chance to work off all this excess energy he seemed to have. With how he was feeling right now it was a miracle he'd even fallen asleep and stayed that way so long.

Nero tried to sit still and watch some tv first, but the old piece of crap didn't want to work right and it was just plain impossible to not move some part of his body. Cursing, he chucked the remote at the screen, leaving a crack in the thick glass and not caring. He stood once more and stretched his arms over his head, walking an impatient circle before he turned to head for the doors.

Only once he placed a hand on the handle, Nero just couldn't make himself go outside. For some reason, the younger felt wary of being out there. His demon shifted in his mind, just as restless as he was, whispering to not go out. To stay here. Dante had to come back some time; he'd know what to do about what was happening.

The teen didn't mind that plan, except for the issue of feeling trapped by staying inside. He found his breath drawing short as he wandered through the ground floor, his demonic right arm pulsing a bright, frantic white as he panted quietly; he paused by Dante's desk, bending over to press his hot cheek against the surprisingly cool surface. Clouded blue eyes fluttered closed as he shifted his head an inch over to find another cool spot after heating the last one. The entire area around and on the desk smelled like the older hunter, the warm, spicy aroma with that undertone of greasy pizza, beer and male demon. It was oddly soothing and reminded him of when he'd been sick. That same smell had comforted him then, too.

Nero found himself crawling over the desk to get to the empty chair on the other side. Dante spent more time in that chair than he even did in his own room. The younger man was unaware of how loudly he was purring as he rubbed his cheek slowly over the back of the chair, talons digging into his palm as the heat in his body spiked higher.

Growling, he stood up and kicked the chair over, frustrated that it wasn't actually Dante and just smelled a lot like him.

He resumed his wandering around the office, becoming more restless than ever as everything in the damn place just smelled like Dante. Shaking his head as if that would clear out the fog, Nero walked over to the stairs, staring up them without realizing that his eyes had slowly faded from blue to a dark crimson. Every inch of him was itchy and hot and needy, and Nero growled louder as he went up the stairs slowly, dragging his side along the wall as he went, the friction easing some of the urgent need he had to be touched.

-o-o-o-

Dante heaved a tired sigh as he idly wiped Rebellion clean of the putrid green blood that was pretty much covering everything else, including him. Those demons he'd followed turned out to be bigger than he'd anticipated. Instead of something minor, he'd come across an area filled with at least four more of those giant ant-man things that he'd killed before when he'd tried to impress Nero.

The memory of that rejection added to the sense that something wasn't right made him growl. He placed Rebellion on his back once more and kicked some dirt on the slowly melting puddles of what were once those large demons. He didn't like the fact that more had turned up. An unknown, recurring demon, especially ones like these, usually meant there was a master behind them. That was just what he needed, another cocky demon out there thinking it could do whatever the hell it wanted. Or it knew he was here and was challenging him.

Any other day, Dante would accept without hesitation. These pawn demons were enough of a workout; he could only imagine how great it would be to fight their master. But in the back of his mind was the worry, the gut feeling that something wasn't right and he wanted to run back to the office ASAP. It had taken him until early evening just to find where these ant-men were spawning and then he'd been up all night trying to kill them all at once.

Squinting into the light of dawn, the exhausted half-devil started to sprint back towards home. He had to check on Nero. Whenever that inner 'oh shit' meter of his went off, it usually had something to do with the kid. Dante supposed he should've seen it coming. For the past couple days he'd had the thought that something was off. All he could think of was that the parasite was back and even now, Nero could be huddled up somewhere, hurting and alone.

Dante saw a flash of his dream where the young hunter had died before he could reach him and forced his legs to move faster, running as fast as he could manage through the city to get back. He wasn't going to let that dream become a reality. He still hadn't told Nero how he felt.

Even as fast as he was, it still took Dante a while to get to the office. By the time he made it to Slum Avenue, the sun was already nearly directly overheard. Even more unsettling were the gray storm clouds rapidly rolling in and the strong stench of demons.

He skidded to a stop, groaning tiredly. The entire final stretch between him and Devil May Cry was crammed full of low-level demons, all clamoring over each other to get to the devil hunting office. Great, just like he'd feared, something was wrong. Very wrong if Nero wasn't out here fighting them off.

Ripping his guns free, Dante resumed his run; firing at every demon he passed, leaving a trail of dissolving bodies in his wake as he worked his way down the street until he could see the familiar sign. "I don't know what the hell kind of mess you got yourself in this time, kid, but I'll get you out of it in one piece." _Because I love you._

Well now was a fan-fucking-tastic time to realize that.

The last demon dispatched, he started up the steps to the front doors before stopping cold. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and Dante slowly looked around. Something was watching him from somewhere, but he couldn't tell where. His grip tightened on Ebony and Ivory as he turned in a circle, trying to find the source of the disquieting feeling, only to find that it had gone as suddenly as it came.

"I'll deal with you later," Dante growled, turning back to the doors and kicking them in, ready to do battle with anything that might have gotten inside. Nero was more important right now.

Everything seemed to be the same as when he left, except for his chair was on its side and the tv looked recently damaged.

Oh, and that _smell._

Dante inhaled deeply and shuddered. The air was thick and heated, heavy with the scent of tropical flowers. It made him instantly hard as his demon recognized what it was. And then everything made sense to him. The odd feeling that something wasn't right, Nero's restless, moody behavior and why all those demons had been clogging up the street.

Nero's demon was in heat.

He should've figured it out sooner. In hindsight it was glaringly obvious, and if he hadn't been so preoccupied with struggling to fight back his Trigger, Dante would've smacked himself upside the head for being so dense. He'd been so caught up in his own thoughts lately that he hadn't given a second thought to the fact that Nero was at the age where, if his demon side was strong enough, it would be fully mature and attempt to draw in a mate. Dante remembered his own experience with it. Definitely _not_ something he'd want to go through again, especially since he'd had to spend that frustrating time holding back while using humans to take the edge off for a hellish two weeks.

A small sound caught his attention and Dante instantly looked up to see Nero standing in the kitchen doorway, a glass of water pressed against his reddened cheek. The sight of him had Dante dropping his guns and pulling Rebellion off his back, giving his prized sword the same treatment. God Nero smelled incredible, and the scent only grew stronger once the kid saw him taking a few steps closer. The younger's face was flushed, crimson eyes half-lidded as he panted quietly, those pink lips parted invitingly.

"You're back," Nero intended it to be a greeting, but instead it came out a raspy growl. He'd spent most of the day moving around the office and rubbing against every surface he could find, desperate for any contact on his heated skin, but Dante was finally back and he could help him with whatever was wrong.

_Jump him. Take him. Make him take you. Just do it now!_ His nearly rabid demon demanded.

Nero barely heard the glass breaking as he dropped it, having been trying to cool his face while getting something to drink. His steps started slow but quickly picked up their pace until he slammed into Dante's chest, sending them both to the floor.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter. The one everyone expected and (I hope) has been waiting for. I admit this isn't my strong suit, but hey, practice makes perfect, and I'm always trying new things, so we'll see how it works out. I would've uploaded this chapter this morning like I usually do, but FFN was being a douche. For some reason, I don't like this chapter...

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom

**Warnings: **Language, smut to start, vigorous mansex as the chap progresses, tiny sprinkles of angst (if you squint) aaand...that's it. I'd put in OoCness in every warning, but since you're reading fanfiction, I figure you all expect at least some mild bits of that here and there, no matter what you read.

**Dedications: **Everyone who supports me!

I would like to thank all you readers and reviewers. You guys totally make my day, every day! Thank you for always encouraging me and I can only hope to continue to entertain you all!

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**Chapter 7: Estrus **

Dante didn't get a chance to say anything about being tackled to the floor on account of suddenly having his lips crushed against Nero's as the younger kissed him desperately and purred loud enough for Dante to feel it reverberating through his entire body, but in a good way, like an erotic stroke. He didn't complain, simply flipped their positions easily and pinned the kid to the floor. His demon was even more aroused by the edge of violence, almost taking all of his control right then. He just barely managed to fight it back when Nero arched against him, licking at his neck and jaw before forcing him into another brutal kiss.

The younger man had no idea what he was doing, obviously, so Dante pulled away, ignoring Nero's groan at the loss of contact. The disappointment didn't last as he immediately dove in for another searing kiss, this time managing to get Nero to open his mouth and slip his tongue in. At first, the teen bit at the slick muscle, but once he realized how nicely it could be used, he relaxed his jaw and heatedly suckled on it. He dug his nails into the elder slayer's shoulders, his devil bringer drawing blood and leaving little tears in the red coat under it. Dante just grunted and shrugged out of it, throwing his coat somewhere away from them so it could avoid further damage.

The air grew humid, feeling like a heavy blanket it was so hot, and that heady smell grew stronger instead of relenting. Dante shoved a hand up Nero's shirt, groping at the warm skin underneath. He didn't even have to encourage the kid to open his legs, as one touch to the younger's hip had Nero wrapping both legs tightly around his waist and pulling their hips flush together.

He finally pulled away from Nero's mouth to try and get air, lungs burning from the deprivation, though he hardly cared, immediately bucking his hips and shivering in delight at the deep, throaty moan he got in response. It wasn't nearly enough, what with both of them still clothed, but the friction was at least _something_, and damned if it didn't feel good regardless. Dante planted his hands firmly onto the floor beside Nero's head and rutted against the younger man, who writhed at the torturous pleasure, begging for more.

Dante growled and leaned in to nip sharply down Nero's neck, feeling the other trembling beneath him. His hands bunched up Nero's shirt as he lowered his head further, tongue flicking over a hardened nipple that he promptly sucked into his mouth.

Nero couldn't breathe, all of the sensations crashing into him at once making him momentarily forget how as he lost himself in Dante's rough hands and hot mouth, trying to move his hips back against the ones bucking into him, his heart about to burst out of his chest it was hammering so hard. His mouth opened on a silent scream as his back arched sharply, feeling warmth spreading over his groin. If he'd been in his right mind, he would've been mortified that he'd just made a mess in his pants from Dante just dry humping him, but as it was, the premature release just eased some of the unbearable heat and he sagged back against the floor, panting raggedly as he clung to Dante; somewhere in the back of his muddled mind his demon was still making demands, though it sounded just as winded as he was.

_More…more…I want…more…_

When Nero relaxed, Dante finally slowed his vigorous rhythm and lifted his head, staring down at the teen's flushed face, his eyes closed though his brow was furrowed as if he still wasn't quite comfortable, and Dante had a feeling that he wasn't. Any other time and he would've teased the kid about not being able to hold his load, but this wasn't a joking matter. If the younger didn't get any real release soon, those needs were going to get painful and he might go feral.

"Kid…hey…Nero," his voice came out rough as he nuzzled Nero's cheek to try and rouse him. That hazy look he got wasn't reassuring, since Dante wanted the kid to really hear and understand what he was about to say. "This isn't the real you. And what I'm about to do can't even really be considered helping because I'm just a selfish bastard taking advantage of the situation. I won't expect it to change anything between us, okay?"

Nero hummed as he watched Dante's mouth moving, not really paying attention to what he was saying, leaning up to lick and nibble at the elder's bottom lip, purring contentedly even as he felt the restless heat building in him again. He'd come not two minutes ago and already he was painfully hard again.

Dante sighed and tried to peel Nero's arms off him. That…was easier said than done. He'd barely manage to get one hand off him but as soon as he'd work on the other, the one he'd just pulled off would clutch at him again. After a minute he gave up, having lost his shirt at some point during the struggle, not even attempting to remove the leg lock around his waist. "Hang on," he slid his arms under Nero and sat up on his knees, lifting the younger hunter with him and then awkwardly getting to his feet. Nero didn't object, simply leaned into him and started to nibble at his ear. Dante groaned quietly at the little shivers that started to skitter down his spine, those little love bites making his demon side scream at him to hand over control so it could reciprocate.

Instead he ignored it long enough to carry them up the stairs. If he was going to tear into the poor kid, it might as well be in a bed and not on the floor.

He found his bedroom door was already open and the room was trashed more than usual. The overly sweet scent Nero was emitting was particularly strong and the mental image of the young part-devil rolling around on his bed and nuzzling into his clothes with the same desperation he'd shown downstairs made that small bit of control he was hanging on to snap.

Dante threw Nero down onto the bed, falling down after him and immediately ripping at the younger man's jeans, shredding them off his slim hips. Nero didn't seem to care about the loss of his pants, instead encouraging Dante to keep going, loving the display of forceful lust, his inner demon pleased it could drive the elder out of his mind and get what it was craving at the same time.

What had occurred downstairs was the only foreplay there was going to be, since Dante's demon took complete control and he wasn't willing to wait anymore. He dove down between Nero's legs and began to roughly suck the leaking cock that was aching for any form of attention. Nero threw his head back with a strangled cry and spread his legs open wider, urging Dante to do more. He tried to buck up into the frenzied mouth wrapped around the most sensitive part of him, but the older half-devil mercilessly held his hips down to ravish him. The younger slayer gripped handfuls of silver hair just to have something to hold onto as the world disappeared and all that remained was Dante. He desperately tried to get air into his starving lungs as he came a second time, barely managing a weak protest when the more experienced man lifted his head.

Nero reluctantly released the elder's hair and instead gripped the mussed sheets, hips lifting of their own according when Dante sat up and didn't continue to touch him anywhere. He gasped in surprise when he felt something push into his ass, eyes flying open to see Dante leaning over him, pushing his finger in deeper. Nero grunted a bit at the intrusion that only made him hard again, writhing when it wasn't enough. He wanted more. He wanted it _now._

Dante growled low in approval when Nero didn't show any objection or pain, pulling his hand away to yank at his own pants and release his own burning erection, quickly positioning himself between open, legs that wrapped around him again and pulled him invitingly closer. Nero was too lost in the heat affecting him to feel any pain, and his demonic healing would kick in before that sense returned. Lifting the younger man's lithe hips, Dante pushed in slowly at first, but one shuddering moan from Nero and he thrust in to the hilt. He hissed at the searing heat that immediately clamped around him, clutching and attempting to draw his cock in deeper.

"More. _More!"_ Nero demanded, grabbing at Dante's shoulders again. The elder demon slayer stared down at him for a moment, seeing unrestrained lust and submission in those crimson clouded eyes. The small human part of Dante that was still conscious felt a stab of heartache, wishing that accepting look was real.

Snarling, he pulled off Nero's hands and pinned them by the wrists on the bed, hips beginning a rough, fast rhythm. Completely lost in the olfactory overload, Dante's demon basked in the way it so thoroughly dominated the younger slayer, pounding into the willing body relentlessly; with a ferocity that would've seriously injured a normal human.

He reveled in the muscles pulsing around his throbbing erection, the incoherent cries and unrestrained whimpers Nero made, begging for more, always more, echoing every lewd slap of their hips.

Dante leaned more of his weight into his hands that were still pinning Nero's wrists that were struggling to break free. He was on the verge of triggering completely and didn't want to break the kid in half, and if he let Nero claw at his back, he knew he'd like it enough to change. Under the almost overpowering smell of sweet flowers and raw sex, Dante's nose tingled as it caught a new scent joining in. Something darker, stronger, like an exotic spice.

_Shit, I didn't mean for it to go this far…_ but it was too late, he couldn't stop it. He'd wanted to mark Nero as his mate so badly and now with his demon in full control it was impossible to hold it back. It wanted its scent all over the younger man. Inside of him so that any other demon that would dare try and take Nero away would know just who they would have to answer to. His lips peeled back, baring sharp fangs that he sank possessively into Nero's shoulder as he moved at a spine breaking pace.

"Harder! Harder! Oh Dante!" Hearing Nero screaming his name as he arched his back up off the bed, coming hard across his flat stomach and even up to his chest, staining the bunched shirt that had never been taken off the younger man completely pushed Dante over the edge and he let go of the teen's wrists to grab at his hips, yanking them up higher as he finally triggered and plunged in as deep as he could, shuddering as he filled Nero to the brim with his hot seed a couple hard thrusts later.

And just like that, the air cleared a bit of the heavy scent of tropical flowers, the smell of sex, sweat and the dark spice of Dante's demon claiming Nero overshadowing it; the worst of the heat over now that he'd mated with Nero properly.

Dante detriggered and suddenly had complete control over himself again. Though that didn't mean much, seeing as he was utterly exhausted; barely keeping from collapsing onto a panting Nero, he made himself pull out of that wonderfully tight ass and rolled onto his side, trying to catch his breath.

Slowly composing himself, Dante realized he was still partially clothed and kicked his pants the rest of the way off, turning his head to see how Nero was doing, leaning over to help the limp younger man to get the messy shirt over his head and tossing it away. He jumped slightly when he felt the younger slayer curl against him, nuzzling sleepily into his chest and purring in utter satisfaction.

"Dante…"

He smiled faintly at that and wrapped his arms around Nero, holding him tight. His heart ached at the thought that, once the kid woke up and had the ability to think again, he'd never get the opportunity to do this again. The younger's demon was obviously smitten with him, but Dante could only guess how Nero himself felt. _And I went and just mated with him without even asking._

He just hoped that when Nero was done kicking his ass for this, they could still be friends somehow.


	8. Chapter 8

_WHY is Nero's stance so damn WIDE?_

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter for you awesome people. Oh, and what's this? An extra long chapter? That's right. It's definitely filler, but this marks the official end of the first conflict in the story so the next one can begin!

Right, and I wanted to ask if anyone else noticed...I've been replaying the DMC series, and though I haven't completed 3 all the way, I skipped ahead to 4 because I wanted to play Nero. In all of the earlier games, not ONCE, no matter how he's standing or what he's doing, does Dante's stance come ANYWHERE as wide as Nero's when the kid is just standing. Why? I've been racking my brain trying to figure it out. It's like the greatest mystery since Dante decided to wear chaps. What is the thinking behind it? Regardless of the actual reason, my perverted mind is just coming up with adequate scenarios to explain why Nero would stand with his legs so damn far apart, ha!

**Disclaimer:** Devil May Cry and its characters with weird quirks belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Usual language, brief mentions of the naughty things that transpired between last chapter and this one, angst and fluff.

**Dedications: **To _Semjaza, Blood of Dusk, SirenaLoreley, Valenwind, JustHexx _and _BattleGoddess126_. You guys really cheered me up, so this fluff is for yous guys -hearts-

And now I'll end this extra long AN so you can get on to the extra long chapter!

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**Chapter 8: A Delayed Start is Still a Start**

The dull yellow light of the sun shining against his closed eyes eventually roused Nero enough to blink them open, immediately squinting at the brightness filtering through the thick curtains over the window. He didn't remember his window being right next to his bed…

_Oh wait…_

This wasn't his room.

Nero blinked rapidly to bring the room into focus, surprised to find himself in Dante's room, lying in the elder man's bed. When did that happen? Did he fall asleep up here? He didn't remember much of yesterday…it felt like days ago now, but he figured it was only the next morning. Did Dante even come back? His brow furrowed as he tried to collect his scattered thoughts, vaguely recalling Dante walking in the front door, and he'd gone to greet him then…a blank.

He frowned and sat up, immediately wishing he hadn't. Hissing at the burning ache in his lower body, Nero stopped trying to move, barely getting himself half propped up. "What the hell…" he gasped, trying to remember what would've made him so damn sore in ways he'd never been before. The teen closed his eyes again and fought to concentrate when his mind kept centering on an oddly strong, spicy scent that permeated the room. He remembered waiting for Dante to come back to the office. He remembered passing out on the couch and after he woke up he'd felt like crap but that was when things started to get hazy.

_How could you forget?_ His demon whispered to him and Nero inhaled sharply as images suddenly flooded his mind. Images – or rather, memories – of himself, flat on his back and screaming in ecstasy were the most surprising. At least until he recalled who'd caused all of those incredible feelings. Face red, Nero glanced over his shoulder and, as he half expected, saw Dante fast asleep next to him, snoring lightly. That would certainly explain why he was in the old man's bed.

As much as he hated to admit it, his demon side was right. How _could_ he forget that he'd had sex with Dante last night? Was it last night? And not just once, he now vividly recalled them doing it at least four times, if not more. Now he was starting to doubt that it was just the morning after. It felt like he'd lost days.

_Shit, I've been in here, having sex with Dante of all people for not just a night but DAYS?_

Nero decided then that he didn't care if he was sore; he needed to get out of that room and think about that revelation. He grit his teeth and shuffled to the edge of the bed, taking a deep breath before standing. Almost immediately his knees buckled and the younger hunter barely caught himself on a messy nightstand, hanging his head as he tried to collect himself.

It took a couple minutes, but Nero was determined and managed to limp out of the bedroom, face flushing even more as he realized that he was stark naked and an absolute mess. He frowned as he wiped a hand over the half dried, sticky streaks on his chest. And that wasn't the only place they were. Groaning, Nero stumbled into the bathroom and leaned heavily back against the door to close it.

He counted the hard part as over and climbed into the shower, not even caring that when he first turned on the water it was icy cold. He let it beat into his skin and felt it clearing his mind. Once it gradually warmed, he rinsed himself off slowly, trying not to think too much about the images in his head recounting all of what he'd done. Nero couldn't help but pause and smirk at a particular memory that came up. Apparently he hadn't been the only one on his back taking it. He chuckled for a moment before he wiped the smile off his face. "What the hell am I laughing about? This isn't a good thing." He told himself.

_Isn't it though? You got what you wanted._ Not the way he wanted to get it though. Nero had been thinking something a bit more conventional. Like, maybe telling Dante he was stupidly in love with the old man before they ended up in bed. He heaved a sigh. He still didn't have a clue as to what Dante's feelings might be. He only remembered detailed bits and pieces of what they did. "Guess I'm just going to have to ask him all that really happened." Great. He half hoped to not have to look at Dante for a while now that he remembered how much he'd _begged_ the other slayer to fuck him senseless.

Nero finally shut off the shower and stepped out, grabbing a towel that he draped over his head. He shuffled over to the sink and wiped the foggy mirror, staring at his dripping reflection for a moment. He looked the same as always, save for a rosy tint to his cheeks since he couldn't quite fight off blushing constantly. Yet, though he didn't look any different, he _felt_ different. The young man lightly ran his human hand down his face, frowning thoughtfully. He held up his devil bringer, looking over the red and black hide and glowing azure skin. It was the same as everything else, not behaving oddly like it had been the past couple of days anymore.

But something was just _off_.

He shifted a bit uncomfortably and started to dry himself off properly. Nero couldn't place the odd feeling. It wasn't necessarily bad, just unknown. He suspected it could have a lot to do with the fact that every time he moved, he swore he could still feel Dante inside of him. Like the older devil hunter had branded him in some way. He couldn't tell if that was a normal thing to feel or if he should be concerned about it. That and he noticed that his shower hadn't removed that spicy scent from his skin. It was detectable even through the smell of his shampoo and soap.

His stomach suddenly broke the contemplative silence with a low grumble and Nero released an impatient puff of air.

"I can think more about it after I eat." He concluded after realizing that he was _starved._ And he wanted something sweet. Another oddity since Nero wasn't much for sweet things. He shrugged that off as unimportant and wrapped the towel around his waist, stepping out of the bathroom only to smack into Dante's bare chest as the elder left his room.

"Oh…there you are."

Nero stumbled back a bit and looked up at Dante, face instantly growing hot, not just at the sight of the older man, but because he'd been going back to _Dante's_ room, not his own. "Y-yeah." Real smooth.

Dante scratched at the back of his head and looked down the hall before stepping around the younger slayer. "Beat me to the shower."

"Yeah…" this was so awkward it was painful.

They stared at each other in silence for a good five minutes before Dante finally cleared his throat and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door quietly.

Nero stared at the door with uncertainty. He should've said something more than a noncommittal monosyllable. Damn it. He lightly slapped himself and cursed, turning to go to his own room to get dressed. He needed to get his shit together before he bumped into Dante again. There was a lot of unfinished business between them they had to take care of.

-o-o-o-

_So far so good,_ Dante thought to himself as he had a quick shower. There was the thought of lingering in the bathroom all day, but he knew he couldn't get away with that. He'd have to go downstairs at some point and talk to Nero. He just wished the inevitable conversation would play out differently than all the scenarios in his head. Well, there was one certain scenario that was particularly nice…but he wasn't going to hold his breath on it happening.

Even if their partnership ended here, he had to admit that they had a good run. The kid had been hanging around him and living under the same roof for longer than anyone else had. Trish had lived with him for a while, but she was always in and out. Only Nero was someone he could come home with or to and relax around. And hey, he had a handful of days of vigorous, mind-blowing sex he could look back on and regard with both fondness and regret, so the whole cesspool of love was complete.

Dante shook out his wet hair as he stepped out of the shower, grabbing the last towel before walking across the hall to his room to pull on a pair of pants. His heart sank at the lingering scent of him and Nero combined. Spice and vanilla, it was warm and sweet, something he wished wouldn't ever fade away.

"I'm being a total sap." He grunted, roughly drying off his hair before throwing the damp towel into the wall with a thump, turning to leave the room, fisted hands stuffed into his pockets. He hesitated at the top of the stairs, looking down on the main floor of the office, but Nero wasn't in sight. A twinge of possessive fear went through him, no doubt his demon not liking the fact that its new mate wasn't where it could see him, and Dante trotted down the stairs quickly, looking around the main room before heading for the kitchen to see if Nero was there.

Once he found the kid, Dante let out a quiet breath of relief, and then fought back a smile at what he saw; namely Nero leaning back against the kitchen counter, wearing jeans and a navy tank top, happily eating strawberry flavored ice cream out of the carton. The younger man froze like a deer in the headlights when he noticed Dante watching him and slowly lowered the spoon back into the half empty container.

"…what?" he asked suspiciously.

Dante shook his head. "Nothin' kid, just glad you found it."

Nero turned his eyes down to the ice cream and his expression turned to one of caution as he slowly began to hold it further away from himself. "What did you do to it?" he demanded, sending the elder hunter a glare.

_God kid, you can't know how much I love it when you look at me like that._ Dante held up his hands peaceably, relieved that the awkwardness from before seemed forgotten. "Chill out. I didn't do anything to it. I just knew you'd want something sugary once you came out of it, so I managed to go out at one point while you were asleep and buy that for you."

Still not looking convinced, and even a bit confused, Nero carefully drew the ice cream back to himself. He honestly was still hungry, and once he'd found the frozen treat in the otherwise empty freezer, he'd nearly died in relief, immediately digging into it, too impatient to get a bowl. He'd never liked sweet things, but damn, that ice cream was like the most amazing food that ever touched his tongue. "Out of what exactly?"

"Right, you probably don't remember much…." Dante trailed off when Nero looked away at his words, cheeks tinting a dark pink that matched the ice cream he was still eating. "Or…maybe you do."

"N-not all of it, but I got the gist." The teen cleared his throat and concentrated on staring into his snack. "Don't know why it all happened though." He mumbled.

Dante leaned back against the counter next to the younger male, arms crossed over his chest to keep from impulsively reaching over to touch him, as he nodded in understanding. "Just biology. Think of it as your last stage of puberty, kid. Your demon fully matured sexually and just wanted a mate. I went through the same thing, only I wasn't as lucky to have someone around to help me out. I had to figure it all out on my own." He drew away a bit at the lost look Nero gave him and added quickly, "But that doesn't mean we're…I mean, don't worry. We didn't come out of it in a relationship or anything. It was just something you needed, and I helped out, that's what friends do," _Liar, liar_. "….that and I didn't want you destroying my shop and trying to rape someone."

"Right…" why did that still blushing little punk sound disappointed at his explanation? Dante tilted his head curiously when Nero looked away from him again. "So…that must've been a crazy night then." The elder half-devil chuckled at that.

"Try three days, kid."

Nero choked and started coughing roughly at that. Dante helpfully patted him on the back, more to just get some physical contact with the younger than anything else. "W-what? Three…"

"…days. Yeah, kid. You were out of it for three days. Don't worry, it's not like it means anything serious. We can still be friends, right?" he said it with a bit of cheery humor, but this was the part he'd been dreading. Now that it was all out there in the clear, was Nero going to stick around or storm off? Dante braced himself, waiting to get punched. Even if all Nero did was yell at him, he'd be prepared.

What he wasn't prepared for, was Nero getting over the shock of the fact that they'd really spent three days in bed together, and setting his ice cream aside before resting his head on the elder man's shoulder with a heavy sigh.

"Sure," Nero murmured. "Friends,"

And yet, once again Dante thought he heard disappointment in the kid's tone.

"Great, crisis averted. Now, how about sharing some of that ice cream, you hog?" he said suddenly to break the tense silence.

Nero caught the edge of desperation in the elder's taunting smile and growled half-heartedly at him; grabbing the carton and hugging it to his chest possessively. "Screw off, old man, get your own, this is mine."

After that heavy moment, things seemed to return to relative normalcy. And Dante couldn't help but be grateful for it…but he still wasn't any closer to figuring out Nero's feelings, if they even existed. They were still getting along pretty well, and Nero was being his usual self, as was Dante, but he didn't have a clue if Nero even vaguely _liked_ him. And he was still too chicken shit to outright confess.

-o-o-o-

The day passed as any other would, though Dante was quieter than usual, as he was still caught up in his thoughts and feelings that were even stronger than before. What was worse, it wasn't just him with urges to be closer to Nero. Now that he'd mated with the younger part-devil, without Nero's knowledge or consent, his demon was bitching about the purposeful distance Dante put between them. It wanted to crawl all over the kid and nuzzle and lick all that pale skin that was no longer bruised from the marks it had left behind.

He was glad to head up to bed early, exhausted from holding back what was just natural instinct for hours on end. Nero seemed to agree with his logic, looking rather tired himself.

They walked up the stairs in silence, parting ways to stand at their respective bedrooms. Dante thought about all the things he could say, the things he _should_ say, but Nero beat him to it with a simple, "'Night," And went into his room, shutting the door quietly.

_Go in there and drag him out. He's supposed to sleep with us!_ Dante closed his eyes and tried to rub away the headache building from his inner devil's demands. Ignoring it yet again, he went into his bedroom. The scents that had lingered that morning were almost completely gone now, and Dante was both glad for it and yet saddened. He left his door open a bit just to be sure everything aired out completely…and he had a stupid hope that his mate might want to come to bed with him in spite of going into a different room.

Dante fell back onto his bed with a sigh and closed his eyes, not even bothering to climb under the blankets. He hadn't changed the sheets yet, and he burrowed his face into one of the pillows, able to still smell vanilla, cherries and that tiny hint of flowers. _I hate loving things; it just gives the world something else to take away from me._ He thought. He'd loved his mother, and she was taken away. He'd loved his brother. He'd lost him too; twice. Now he had Nero and it was just a matter of time until he lost the fiery punk as well.

He wasn't sure how long he just laid there on his stomach, face shoved into a pillow and finding it hard to breathe. Dante figured he'd drifted off for a couple minutes. He obviously hadn't really fallen asleep, as a small creak was enough to rouse him. Instead of lifting his head, though, the famed demon slayer slowly shifted and peeked out of the pillow, breath catching as he saw what made the noise.

Nero was standing outside his door.

The younger hunter had a hand on the knob, having paused in pushing the door open further when it made a noise. He was staring anxiously at where Dante lay sprawled on the bed as if afraid he'd woken him. Dante hid a smile and shifted again onto his side, pretending to be asleep even as he kept one eye barely open enough to watch the teen.

Once convinced that he was unconscious, Nero pushed the door open a bit more, slipping into the room and slowly making his way over to the bedside. He hesitated again before carefully lowering himself down onto the edge of the mattress, going so torturously slow, Dante was tempted to just sit up and yank him the rest of the way down. He managed to resist. He wanted Nero to come to him willingly. And right now, there was no evidence of demonic influence. The kid's eyes were that normal clear blue, and his entire demeanor was nervous, as if afraid he'd get caught sneaking into the elder's bed.

Dante purred quietly, internally cursing the soft sound, but he couldn't help it. The punk was making him so ridiculously happy right now.

Nero paused at the noise, cocking his head to the side in such an adorable gesture, Dante had to fight down another urge to just grab the younger man and cuddle the living hell out of him.

After many starts and stops, Nero eventually laid out next to him, curled so close to the edge of the bed, he was surprised the kid hadn't fallen off yet. Taking a chance, Dante slid an arm around Nero's slim waist and gently tugged him back even as he scooted forward until he could spoon up behind the other man. He felt more than heard Nero's breath still as he tensed slightly under the sleepy hold. An agonizing minute passed before he felt the younger sigh and press back against his chest, relaxing completely.

Dante swore his heart melted right then and there. He pressed his nose into Nero's hair so he could breathe him in all night, tightening the arm around his waist possessively. Nero had come into his room to sleep with him under his own power. No suggestion from Dante whatsoever aside from not closing his door all the way. Maybe those subtle signals he'd been handing out to the kid were bearing fruit. It was entirely possible that Nero just might feel something for him too.

He sat up slightly, leaning over to kiss Nero's cheek and completely giving away that he was awake, smiling as the younger man just murmured his name sleepily as he settled down again.

If this was another desperate dream, then Dante wished right then that he'd never wake up. But if it was real…if it was real, then he didn't want to sleep at all, so he could just bask in the knowledge that he might have finally won Nero over.


	9. Chapter 9

_You guys are all so awesome!_

**A/N: **Here's the next chapter for you guys. I kept editing it but I wasn't satisfied with how it came out. I wanted to throw in more fluff, but at the same time I needed to put this latest conflict to rest completely and then jump into the next one. So it might be a little fast and abrupt, but I couldn't get it to come out better than this. Hope you all don't mind!

**And thanks everyone for their input on Nero's stance last chapter, haha, you guys made me laugh and really had some good, solid theories as to the why of it!**

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom

**Warnings: **Language, drabbly, massive fluff (at least to me), probably more OoCness than usual and, er, yeah, that's it.

**Dedications: **To my reviewers, old and new alike. Whether you're lurking out there or giving signs of your presence, you still make my day and keep my confidence in my writing up!

Chapter engage!

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**Chapter 9: Losing What Matters Most**

He'd never felt so warm, inside and out, in his life. It wasn't an uncomfortable heat like he'd had the misfortune of feeling, but a soothing, cozy warmth that made him feel that, for once, maybe everything could be alright.

Nero knew it couldn't last, and opened his eyes. Lingering here as long as he had was a bad idea. He'd intended to sleep in his own room last night and not let what happened change anything between him and Dante. Instead, he'd lain on his bed for all of maybe ten minutes, thinking about it. And thinking about it. Eventually, his own resolve broke down and he'd snuck into Dante's room, just needing to be near the idiot. The elder had been asleep, so he'd figured he would just take a tiny corner of the bed and be gone before the old man woke.

Except he remembered being pulled closer to a warm chest and that heavy arm was still around his waist. Nero tried to fight back the heat rising in his face as he recalled a kiss, too. Dante probably liked him at least a little. Or maybe he'd just gotten cold in the middle of the night and he was getting his hopes up for nothing.

He'd stayed long enough, too caught up in enjoying the intimacy of sharing a bed with someone else. It was nicer than he'd thought it would be to have the reassuring presence of another body close to your own. Nero scoffed at his own thoughts and sat up slowly, scooting to the edge of the bed and intending to just slip out from under Dante's arm and sneak back to his own room.

He got partway there, just about to slip off the bed, when the arm draped over him suddenly tightened and he was forcefully yanked back onto the bed. Nero shamed himself with a rather loud yelp of surprise, eyes wide as he found himself on his back, staring up at Dante…who didn't even really look awake, sky blue eyes barely open and a little unfocused.

"Where do you think you're going?" okay, maybe he was more awake than he looked to be making coherent demands.

"W-what the hell are you talking about?"

Dante tried to force himself to stay conscious, but he'd stayed up nearly all night just watching Nero sleep. He'd dozed off a couple times, but never let himself completely fall into oblivion. And for a man who was used to getting at least ten hours of sleep, more if he could help it, dozing through a cumulative hour wasn't good enough. But damn it, he couldn't just let Nero go and let himself sleep. Not yet anyway. They still had things they needed to talk about. Dante had the gut feeling that Nero felt the same way about him, but he still didn't trust it to not just be desperation of an unrequited love. He knew he'd have to say something first, and that was going to be hard, but he'd do it if it meant keeping Nero forever.

"I think you know. You're the one who crawled into _my_ bed last night. Got something you want to say to me, kid?" Alright, so he couldn't resist forcing Nero to confess first to save his own pride.

Nero's face flushed as he looked away, making Dante frown, but he wasn't going to let the younger man get away that easily. "I don't know what you're talking about…I just got cold…" he muttered, voice barely audible.

"Uh huh," Dante grunted doubtfully, still peering down at the kid.

Shifting uncomfortably for a few minutes, Nero kept glancing back at the older slayer, half hoping he'd pass out and he could get away without having to say anything. When Dante only seemed to become more and more awake as the tension between them rose, he let out a frustrated breath. "Fine, what do you want from me?"

"The truth," he replied simply.

Nero rubbed the back of his left hand over his mouth, eyes constantly looking to the side as if judging if he could escape or not. Dante must've noticed his flight reflex kicking in, because the older man shifted to lean further over him, both arms caging the teen in. And he was staring at him again. Those piercing eyes were peering down at him, reminding Nero of all the other times in the past few weeks Dante had stared at him in a similar way. Except…something about this look was different. It was a bit guarded. A mixed look of expectation and longing. "The truth is…" hell he couldn't make himself say it, it sounded so stupid. He carefully avoided making eye contact as he mumbled. "I think I love you," he paused before cursing. "Do you have _any_ idea how stupid I sound? This whole thing is stupid, get the hell off me!" he shoved at Dante's chest, but the other man didn't move, instead pulling Nero closer. "H-hey! I said get away!"

His eyes widened when he found himself being squeezed a bit too hard in a brutal hug, face crushed against Dante's chest. Nero grunted and managed to shift his head to the side so he could get some air, about to punch the old man for trying to suffocate him, only to forget the violent thought when he heard Dante's heart. He stopped struggling instantly, focusing on the elevated, uneven rhythm. In all the time Nero had known him, never had Dante given away that he was anything but calm and cool; laid back about everything.

But five awkward, nervously spoken words had completely broken down that visage as he realized Dante might be just as scared of all this as he was. Who would've thought the Son of Sparda was afraid of _anything_?

Dante didn't know what else to do or say after hearing that confession, and when Nero stopped trying to get away, he only held on tighter. He'd thought the worst part was realizing he loved the kid. As it turned out, the scariest thing he'd ever encountered in his life wasn't any demon, but instead knowing that Nero loved him back. His heart felt like it was going to break apart, but not because of the reason he'd thought it would.

Caught up in his thoughts again, he almost didn't notice when Nero started slapping at his arm. "What, kid?"

"_Air."_ Nero wheezed and Dante blinked in confusion before instantly easing his hold, watching the younger man cough a bit and start sucking in air he'd been deprived of.

"Oops. My bad." That aching heart disappeared the instant Nero turned that familiar glare on him and called him a 'stupid old man'. Dante chuckled at the expected reply and impulsively leaned in to kiss Nero's forehead. Only to grin when the kid turned his head away slightly and scratched at his nose to hide the instant blush that action garnered. "But I'm pretty sure I more than think I love you, Nero."

That blush deepened and the glare returned. "I more than think I love you too, jerk." The stupid old man was trying to make it sound like Nero was the indecisive one here.

"Are you trying to say that you love me _more?_" Dante taunted, scooting closer and was delighted when Nero didn't pull away.

"Who was it that only stared constantly instead of just coming up and saying something?" Nero countered, crossing his arms defiantly.

"Cocky punk. If I'd gone up to you before and said I loved you, you would've run away."

"I wouldn't have!"

"Would too."

"Now who's immature?"

Dante laughed at that and tackled Nero back down to the bed in another bone-crushing hug. He didn't think he could ever be so happy about something so simple.

"What the hell, old man, get off!" Nero growled, trying to push him away. The kid wasn't trying all that hard, Dante noticed, and was more than happy to ignore the demand. "You're heavy."

"Too much for a delicate boy like you, am I?" Dante teased, rewarded with a light punch to the jaw that got him to pull away enough for Nero to sit up at least.

Silence followed the playful little interlude while both absorbed the impact of the fact that they'd just shared their feelings. It was a little unmanly of them, sure, but neither was going to take it back just because of that. Nero broke the thoughtful moment by resting his head on Dante's shoulder, mostly to hide his face as he shared another very personal thought.

"So what happens now? I don't really know how relationships work exactly…"

Dante shrugged lightly, careful not to dislodge the young hunter. "Got me. I don't really get how they work either. We'll figure it out." And there was the same old Dante, just letting problems roll off his back and not worrying about it.

Nero lifted his head to frown at that. "Glad you're taking this so seriously." He said flatly.

"I could make it more serious and just molest you." Dante pointed out and pushed the teen onto his back again with a wicked grin. Nero's face immediately went bright red and he scrambled to get away while Dante kept dragging him back, the two ending up rolling off the bed and crashing to the floor heavily as a result.

Dante never did manage to molest Nero as seriously as he'd wanted to, but he was content with the massive cuddling interrupted periodically with playful fights. Eventually they'd fallen asleep again, curled up on the mess of blankets they'd dragged with them to the floor and when he finally woke up, Dante had his dream come true when Nero turned to him with a shy little smile and open arms.

-o-o-o-

The next couple of days were spent rather lazily, both hunters not seeing a reason to even get out of bed beyond getting food when there were no jobs waiting for them.

Nero would admit to being a bit embarrassed when he thought about all the things they'd done during those lazy hours, but he wasn't ashamed of them. And looking Dante in the eye afterward wasn't hard at all. This loving someone business wasn't as scary as he'd initially thought it would be. They really were just the same as always, and looking back on his previous worries, Nero wondered why he thought anything would change.

At that moment, both were downstairs, Dante leaning back in his chair and Nero perched on the edge of his desk, a fresh pizza sitting in the open box between them. To the younger's utter shock, when the pizza arrived, Dante had insisted that the first piece was Nero's and even now was still contently watching his mate eat. It was a little weird, but at the same time sweet enough that Nero didn't say anything that might've been taken as a rejection. A lot of the things Dante did were, in some odd way, done to please him. _Like he's afraid I'm going to just walk out, so he has to keep me as happy as possible._

Nero wasn't going to complain, but it made him feel like he should be doing something for Dante in return.

As he considered the things the older might appreciate, a discordant note broke into their peaceful moment. The first sign something was off to Nero was the fact that the deep purr that was constantly rumbling from Dante stopped, instead coming out as a feral growl that was enough to make the younger jump a bit.

"What's up?" Nero asked quietly as he looked back to see Dante sitting stiffly instead of relaxed like he'd been a moment before.

"Some demon's been trying to call me out for a fight and I think it just decided to pay another visit." Dante said distractedly. He could feel that same sensation of eyes on him as before and it was coming from right outside the office. He stood up slowly and grabbed Rebellion off the wall, walking straight for the doors and kicking them open, ready to fight.

Nero was curious as was his curse, and hopped off the desk to retrieve his own sword and follow the older hunter outside. Once he got to the bottom of the steps, Dante was already partway down the street, peeking down narrow alleys, trying to find…whatever the demon was.

The younger man frowned slightly as he looked around, unable to feel anything that might have tipped off the presence of a demon. He even looked down at his right arm, but it wasn't reacting to any nearby demonic energy either. He dropped his arm and looked up to shout at Dante that he must be going senile, only to find that everything in front of him was black.

"What the hell? Did I just go blind?" Nero wondered aloud, turning in a quick circle, seeing nothing but black. He reached out, wondering if he fell into something, but it was just air around him. "Dante?" he called out, wondering if the other was experiencing the same thing. "Dante!" he started to feel a little nervous when he got no reply, tightening his grip on Red Queen. At least he wasn't unarmed.

_I don't like this…_ he almost snorted at his demon's quiet observation. He didn't like it either. But if his demonic side was just as ill at ease as he was, then whatever was going on definitely couldn't be good.

Nero fell face first to the ground when his legs were suddenly yanked out from under him. The force of his fall knocked his sword out of his hand and he tried to reach for it, only to feel something yank at his ankles, jerking him away from it. Heart going cold, Nero peeked over his shoulder to try and see what it was, but there was nothing. Another tug and he reached out for his sword again only to get jerked away further. His eyes widened as he clawed desperately at the ground he couldn't even see, nails on his human hand breaking while the talons on his devil bringer scraped across something solid, but there was no purchase, and whatever had a hold of him started to drag him away so fast he lost sight of his abandoned sword within seconds.

"_Dante!"_


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **I know, I'm a bad person, leaving you all with that nasty cliffhanger and then not updating when I was supposed to. I had a job interview yesterday.

In reference to the chapter, I had a little trouble properly describing the antagonist and a couple of details had to be changed due to my deviating from the story outline a couple chapters back. I hope it all came together alright. That and I added more angst.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Language, mild gore, disturbing imagery, bugs (ew), and angst.

**Dedications: **Not sure who to make this out to...hm...how about my darling Star-Star, who's happily curled up on the shelf that serves as my desk and getting in my way? Lol.

Hope this chapter doesn't suck too badly. I was in a weird place when I threw it together. Enjoy anyway!

* * *

**Chapter 10: What's Yours is Mine  
**

Nero came awake with a groan, unsure when he'd passed out. The instant his eyes opened groggily he wanted to close them, head pounding. His first thought was that he hit his head somehow, trying to lift a hand to check himself for injuries, but found that his arms wouldn't move. He forced his eyes to stay open as he lifted his head, only to see that his arms seemed to be melded into the flesh colored wall on either side of him. A glance down confirmed that his legs were in the same state. It was a little disgusting how the wall seemed to pulse warmly against his back, the fleshy material sliding further down his arms as if slowly sucking him in.

Grunting, he struggled a bit, concentrating more power into his right arm, but not even his devil bringer seemed strong enough to break through the bindings. He could, however, see that it was flashing a frantic blue that was bright enough to shine through the thick brown…whatever that was wrapped around it. _Great, now it tells me there are demons nearby. Like I didn't notice already._

Once he was convinced he wasn't going anywhere just yet, Nero tried to focus more on his surroundings, peering into the dimly lit area he was in. It was almost like a small atrium, the ceiling domed. What he could see of the walls were just like what was wrapped around him, brownish red and looked almost like it was perspiring in the heated air, like it was actually made of flesh. A thought he didn't want to linger on at the moment.

The ground was the same, though it looked softer, almost like mulch and the whole place stank of rotting flesh and old blood. Nero swallowed hard and tried to breathe through his mouth to save his nose from the stench. Littering the ground spread out before him were about a dozen of round protrusions. He wasn't sure…but he figured it was a horrifyingly good guess that they were eggs of some kind. If this place looked like anything, it was a demon's nest.

But why would a demon snatch him and drag him to a place it would instinctively kill anything to protect?

Nero narrowed his eyes at that thought, jumping a bit when the ceiling opened, letting faint light filter in and a large shadow dropped down to the floor, somehow managing to not crush any of the eggs. The ceiling snapped shut and cut off the light source. The young hunter forced his eyes to adjust to the sudden change so he could get a better look at the shadow making its way towards him, several sets of wet, sticky footsteps preceding its approach.

"_You wake. I'd hoped you were dead."_ A gurgling, hissing voice spat. Hot, rancid smelling breath fell over his face and Nero immediately had to fight back his gag reflex.

"Jesus, ever hear of a breath mint? You could seriously use one." He shot back, turning his head to the side to avoid having to smell that again, but kept his eyes trained on the shadow that was coming more into focus. The voice promised something ugly, and damn if it didn't fulfill that promise.

The demon that had come up to him was large and resembled that oddly insect looking demon Dante had killed several days ago. It had an ant-like body with several sets of needle thin legs like the other demon at least, but this one's skin was a deep, bloody red, its bulbous abdomen covered in short, but sharp looking spines. Also unlike the other bug-demons, this one didn't just have a face that resembled a human's, but the entire thorax was the upper body of a woman, the deep red fading into a lighter pink that was a parody of human skin, another row of spines covering the narrow shoulders and down the arms that ended in another set of narrow, pointed feet instead of hands. Three sets of antennae adorned her head instead of hair; two laid flat against the back of the demon's head while the third set stood upright, twitching occasionally in the humid air.

"_Such a petty human."_ The demon hissed again, leaning down further to be more level with Nero, full breasts swaying with the movement. _"I had to pay another demon greatly to capture you. It wasn't worth the price."_

Nero rolled his eyes. He'd been through this before with every other demon that thought it was high class and smarter than him. "Then why did you even bother? What do you want with me?" he demanded.

The demon cocked her head in a twitching motion that looked entirely unnatural and gave Nero the shivers. He wasn't particularly fond of bugs. They'd always weirded him out, looking more like aliens than natural life forms. And after his experience with the demonic parasite, they skeeved him out even more so out of sheer trauma.

"_Stupid boy. What makes you think I want anything with YOU?"_

That just confused him more and Nero glared at the demon as she pulled away from him, rising back up to her full height, which was massive. Then it dawned on him and his mouth fell open slightly. "Dante…you're after Dante."

"_Perhaps you are not as stupid as I thought. But still useless and in my way. Of course I want Dante. Who wouldn't want the legendary Son of Sparda?"_ the demon replied as she paced slowly around the circular room, nimbly maneuvering her massive body as if it were as light as a feather, never once even bumping into the eggs littering the floor. "_His father was a fine specimen indeed, but the rumors say the son has surpassed his sire. I believe this to be true."_

"Let me guess. You want to test that little theory of yours and fight him to see whose better? I can answer that for you and save you the trouble." Nero snapped, struggling to get free of the wall again to no avail.

The laugh he got in reply was more like a wet cough. _"Of course not. I know he is far too powerful for me to defeat. I do not want a fight."_

"Then what the hell DO you want?"

"_I want what you have."_

Nero raised an eyebrow. "And that would be…?"

"_To become his mate of course."_ She pointed out, antennae twitching again as if she were amused by the stunned stupid expression Nero had a feeling was on his face. _"So stupid you are, mortal. And weak. Definitely not deserving of the Son of Sparda. He could do so much better than you."_

A small part of Nero had a feeling that was true, but he could think about that later. "Yeah, well you overlooked an important fact. I already have that position; there isn't any room for your fat ass, so fuck off."

The demon jerked her head towards him, her too large eyes rolling a bit before they settled on him and Nero fought back another shudder at the sight, licking his dry lips as the ant-queen started hissing at him again.

"_For now perhaps. I intended to kill you even before you elevated yourself to that status. Unfortunately, that parasite was not enough to get rid of you. Now I'm forced to kill you myself."_ Her irate tone eased a bit as she continued, sounding as pleasant as her voice allowed. "_But it will be for the best. I can bring him straight here to the nest I've built for us and kill you before him. Then he will have no choice but to take me as his new mate."_ She sounded so sure of herself Nero wanted to laugh.

Instead he'd frozen at her confession there. "You…_you_ were the one that sent that parasite?" he whispered in disbelief.

The demon's eyes rolled around again as she bobbed her head in a proud nod, looking a trifle smug. _"Stupid human boy. Of course it was me. I sent it in the hopes that it would kill you and save me the trouble, leaving the path to Dante clear. I've watched him for years, seen his accomplishments. He is certainly worthy enough to overlook his human blood."_

"What if Dante had gotten infected instead of me? That plan was just as stupid as this one!" Nero snapped.

"_He's far too strong to die because of a simple parasite."_ She said with absolute certainty, her collective feet tromping across the soft ground once more and carrying her to the far wall that ripped itself open to let her pass. _"The Son of Sparda will arrive soon. I've made sure of it. Make yourself comfortable with my children."_ The demon let out that wet coughing laugh before she disappeared and the wall sealed itself together once more.

Nero yanked at his arms and tried desperately to move his legs, but the wall held fast to him. He growled in frustration as he looked for an escape, knowing that wherever Dante was, the idiot was going to walk straight into a trap. And even if he knew it was a trap, the old man would come anyway.

He ceased his struggles when a soft sound echoed in the domed room. Nero held his breath as he listened intently, hearing it again. Something was slithering around out there. Heart starting to pound, his eyes darted over the ground, trying to find the source, small shadows darting over the floor as they made their way steadily closer to him.

Nero felt his heart stop completely when he spotted one of the shadows crawling slowly up his leg, more coming up behind it. As it crept closer he noticed it was a tiny demon, barely a foot long, its body black and lined with dozens of legs on either side of its thin body, like a centipede. It paused when it reached his chest, barbed feet hooked into his shirt as it lifted its head…or what Nero guessed was its head.

But he knew what it was the instant a round, tooth-ringed mouth spread open, excreting a little cloud of gray-black smoke before it latched onto his chest, easily tearing through his shirt and the flesh underneath. It was another parasite.

And there were at least five more crawling up his body behind it. All of them with their greedy mouths open and ready to dig into him like the one already burrowing into his chest. Red sprayed into the air as blood exploded from the hole the parasite on his chest had torn open and was forcefully wriggling its body into, burrowing deeper and deeper into him. Nero did the only thing he could do at that point.

He screamed.

-o-o-o-

The further down the street he went, the stronger the sensation of someone watching grew and Dante followed it relentlessly, ready to put this uppity demon down like a dog and crawl back into bed with his new mate. His devil side purred in delight at the thought of having a good fight and returning home to a willing young mate he still had a lot to teach. It was the one missing element in his life he hadn't known was empty until it was filled. He smirked as he jogged further down the street, finally catching a solid scent and he started to track the demon that had been challenging him.

He lost track of how long he was on the move, but he did stop in confused frustration when he realized he'd just gone in a huge, sprawling circle around a couple blocks. The scent of the demon had just looped back towards the office. Frowning, Dante ran down the street, wondering where Nero was. It was probably stupid of him to forget that the kid had followed him outside, but he'd been so focused on trying to catch a fleeting sensation and when Nero didn't say anything, he figured the younger grew bored and went back inside. Besides, the kid could take care of himself, right?

Of course, he wasn't that lucky.

The front doors to Devil May Cry were still open and there on the concrete at the base of the steps was Red Queen, minus her owner.

"Nero?" Dante turned in a slow circle, trying to see if the kid was anywhere nearby. He wouldn't just leave his sword like that. A sinking feeling settled in his gut as the older hunter crouched down to retrieve the abandoned weapon. He paused in the act of reaching for it, eyes widening slightly as he noticed the claw marks carved into the concrete, the grooves making a trail from where the sword lie, down the street about four feet before they stopped completely. Next to the noticeable marks were a few streaks of blood and Dante's breath caught. He brushed his fingertips over the cold ground. The amount of blood was barely noticeable. If it did come from Nero, then there was no way he was wounded badly…but the thought of Nero hurt at all filled him with a protective fury. The kid had suffered enough to last several lifetimes.

And just when Dante finally had him, Nero was taken away. Just like everything else he allowed himself to feel for.

"I'm not going to let you die, too." He vowed, standing straight and grabbing Red Queen as he turned to run back down the street. The scent he'd been following had obviously been staged to get him away from the office so whatever was after him could grab Nero. He picked it up against but instead it was leading him in an entirely different direction. Dante growled as he followed it. This was all his fault for putting something else, no matter what it was, above ensuring Nero's safety. Well, he'd rectify that mistake. It was time to show that cocky demon bastard just what the famed half-devil could do.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Here's another (possibly late) chapter. This chapter just did NOT want to be written. I had to wring this bitch out one painful sentence at a time! I have a feeling it had a lot to do with the fact that it was action-y and I don't have much practice with that. Add to it that this was supposed to be the climactic final battle and I just...got nervous? Haha. Not worrying about that. This is what the chapter came out to be and that's the way it is. Like it or don't, so THERE -is totally faking her over-confidence-

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and it's characters belong to Capcom. The ant-queen (as she's officially dubbed), is mine (and totally a rip off of several movie monsters).

**Warnings: **Language, gore, some more disturbing imagery, and angst.

**Dedications: **_AmorBour_ gets this one, guys. Reading the latest chapter in _Antiphrasis_ was what got me off my bum and got this written (though I don't dare try and compare xD).

* * *

**Chapter 11: Hell Hath No Fury**

It didn't take Dante long to realize that the trail he was following was just a bit too clear. The scent was consistent, it didn't fade or grow stronger, it just led him in a straight direction through the city and then to the empty area beyond. He'd gone on foot, too worried about Nero to think of going back for his car. Despite the fact that the trail was obviously made purposefully, Dante dutifully followed it. If the demon wanted to pave the way and lay out a welcome mat, he was more than willing to take that invitation and cut the fucker's head off for involving his mate.

His anger was also directed partially at himself. He was a terrible partner to let Nero get in trouble like this. If – when – he got the kid back, he'd have to work at that.

The outlying buildings grew further apart and eventually Dante left the road behind and found himself striding out into the middle of a field, the grass growing wild, almost waist height. It slowed him down some, but he knew he was getting closer to where the trail had been leading him. The devil hunter stopped next to one of the few trees scattered throughout the clearing, eyes narrowed as he shifted his feet over the loose soil under his boots. Something was here. He paced around the tree, placing a gloved palm on the bark as he tried to think of a way down. Whatever had called him here was underground, he could feel it.

Dante grunted quietly when he couldn't see anything obvious, thumping his fist against the tree in frustration. He frowned when the hit resounded hollowly in the trunk. Leaning in closer, he rapped his knuckles on the tree again, hearing that it was empty inside. Closer investigation revealed a pile of shredded grass and dirt piled against the large roots that were protruding from the ground. Dante crouched down and started digging, slowly unveiling a tunnel that went under the tree itself and continued downward. It was going to be a tight fit, but he'd climb down there if it meant getting to Nero.

Crawling into the narrow opening, Dante began his decent, determination propelling him forward. _Hang in there, kid, I'm coming._

-o-o-o-

_I can't breathe. It hurts. My chest is so heavy, I can't…breathe…_

Nero's eyes fluttered open partially, hoping that after he'd passed out he'd wake up and be back home, at Devil May Cry with Dante. But no, his nightmare was the reality. He was still trapped down here in that ugly ass demon's nest, being slowly sucked into the wall as nearly half a dozen parasites ate him alive from the inside out.

He tried to take in a breath, mouth hanging open as he took in a shuddering gasp, pain immediately slicing through him and his head dropped again as he felt more dizzy from his attempt to get oxygen than he did just holding his breath. The parasite that had crawled up onto his chest burrowed in, managing to wriggle its sick little way past his ribs and into a lung. He could feel it there, heavily coiled and weighing down the shriveling organ it fed off of. His heart was laboring sluggishly, trying to keep oxygen in his blood when there was none. His brain was starting to get foggy, slowly shutting off. That was probably why he didn't care there was a parasite napping in his chest, or one slithering up his spine, or one sliding under the skin of his leg, working its way up and down as if it were just torturing him with the painfully sickening sensation of something crawling under his skin. Invading his body.

When something heavy fell through the ceiling and landed with a wet smack on the ground, Nero didn't even bother lifting his head, assuming it was just that ant-queen or something. Hell, maybe it was another troop of parasites ready and willing to eat him to the bone.

"Ah, sick." A familiar voice snapped. Nero felt his demon stir in his weary body at the words, that part of him suddenly hopeful while the rest of him was just too out of it to react with anything other than quiet indifference. "Something tells me I'm in the right place – kid? Nero!"

Nero jerked slightly at hearing his name, managing to lift his head, trying to focus when black spots were dotting his vision, the lack of air pushing him to the verge of falling unconscious. The fucking parasite was going to suffocate him before it got the chance to eat him enough for his body to finally die. It was too much effort to hope so damn hard, but his demon shifted in restless relief, managing a weak purr from Nero's dry throat at the sudden presence of their mate.

Dante had been crawling through that tunnel until it widened enough for him to get off his hands and knees and walk upright. It had been just a dark passage, constantly winding down further underground when suddenly the ground gave out under him and he went free falling right into something a bit hard that was instantly broken under his weight and then everything was just wet and sticky.

Belatedly he realized he'd fallen on, and crushed, an egg. One among many more that were surrounding the area he'd fallen into. He'd stood up to brush himself off as best he could, convinced he was definitely in the right place; and that's when he caught sight of Nero. The younger hunter was hanging limply from the wall, arms and legs completely covered by the flesh colored bindings that seemed to be swallowing up more of the kid's body even as he watched. He rushed up to Nero, ignoring anything else he might've stepped on or in along the way, heart clenching in his chest when the younger let out a pathetically weak purr in response to hearing his name, struggling to lift his head. He looked so pale; it was a hauntingly familiar sight.

"Nero? Hey, c'mon kid, snap out of it." Dante said gently, cupping Nero's chin and lifting his head. The other's eyes were barely open, a sliver of blue so dark it was black, clouded over and unfocused. His breathing was frighteningly shallow and labored as well. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Dan…te…" the teen managed to wheeze out, only to be interrupted by the hissing voice of the ant-queen.

"_Welcome, Son of Sparda. I see you had no trouble finding your way here, just as I thought."_

Dante growled at the voice and turned slowly to face the giant insect-demon, standing in front of Nero protectively. "So you're the one who's been calling me out, huh?" he said, clearly not impressed. "I was expecting a little something more after such an upfront challenge."

"_I have no wish to battle."_ She replied amicably, large eyes half-closed. "_All I wished was to garner your attention and lead you here. I humbly offer myself as a worthy mate."_ She even bowed before Dante, almost simpering in her lame attempts to woo and please him. The famed hunter didn't think he'd ever been more turned off.

"You can 'humbly' kiss my ass." Dante snapped, reaching back to grab Rebellion. "Sorry, but you're just not my type."

Her eyes went wide, rolling around as she seemed to panic, drawing her large, ant-like body up to its full massive height. _"How dare you reject my offer!"_ she shrieked, deeply offended as she stomped all of her feet, antennae twitching in sudden anger. _"Just you wait. That pathetic human will die and then you will have no choice but to choose me!"_

Dante had no choice but to leap out of the way when she swiped at him with one of her arms, leaving Nero open for her to attack; except she completely ignored the younger hunter who only grew paler and didn't seem to even notice any of the movement around him. That demon bitch must've done something to Nero, as she was fully confident the kid was going to die. _Don't worry, Nero, I'm not going to let that happen._ He swung his sword at the queen's legs, intending to knock her down, but she managed to leap back just as he'd done, her landing shaking the ground slightly.

Hissing at him, Dante watched as the demon placed a set of her back legs against the large abdomen swinging behind her, pushing off of it and with a sickening, wet snap detached it from the rest of her body, leaving only a woman's upper body with an elongated, bony spine hanging among the many legs, the swaying appendage tipped with a wickedly long stinger.

"C'mon!" Dante taunted, urging her to attack him. And the ant-queen did, seemingly with great relish. Without that heavy abdomen weighing her down, she was incredibly fast, easily dodging Rebellion as she jumped off of and crawled up the walls, constantly hissing and cursing at him for rejecting her. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, that seemed to apply to demons as well. Dante didn't much care, too frustrated with trying to hit her and dodge every counter attack she threw his way to. Occasionally he'd glance towards Nero, who had yet to move at all though there was a battle right in front of him. A few times when he looked, Dante swore the kid had stopped breathing and it only made his attacks more desperate.

He finally landed a blow, rolling under the queen's legs when she stopped long enough to try and slam one of her front legs into him, the thick blade cleanly slicing off some of the legs holding her up. She screamed and scampered out of the way, not nearly as nimble now that she was going off of four feet instead of six. What she lost in agility, however, she made up for in fury, slamming her stinger down and only missing him by inches. Dante slipped on the slick ground, landing on his back and just barely rolled to the side in time to miss getting impaled, some of the damp floor flying up and smacking against his cheek as the demon retracted her stinger.

Flipping his legs over his head, Dante missed another close call and got up onto one knee. At some point in all the rolling around, he'd lost his sword, but still had his pistols. As he reached to retrieve them, a low growl in the back of his mind from his demon signaled him to look over at Nero, heart stopping as at first he thought the younger was finally stirring, but the movement was centered in the kid's chest, the skin bulging outward until a thick, far too healthy looking parasite emerged from the ruptured cavity, wriggling in the cooler air outside of the host's body.

Dante didn't realize how distracted he'd become at the horror of seeing something he'd hoped would never happen again until the forgotten queen shoved her stinger through his chest, pinning him face down to the floor. He wouldn't lie, it _hurt_. No doubt she was injecting him with some form of poison, and it burned like a bitch. Grunting, he worked one of his pistols free and lifted a shaking hand, firing blindly above his head. He hit his mark, however, as hot blood spilled over his back, the demon ant-queen howling as the stinger was yanked out of him sharply and her footsteps skittered away again.

He coughed roughly and pushed unsteadily up onto his knees, his vision beginning to blur and it was focused solely on Nero. Again he was drawn in by the way he'd failed his mate. The one person he had left to love and protect was dying…or already dead…because he had failed to protect him.

"_My plan may have only been half successful, but my revenge will be all the sweeter. I won't kill you for your rejection, Son of Sparda, for I see that your foolish love for a weak human will be what destroys you."_ The demon laughed breathlessly, turning to retreat.

Dante wasn't about to let her get away though. The fury and unbearable heartache of his failure gave him the strength to stand, eyes a blazing crimson that glowed in the dim light. They centered on the limping demon and once she glanced back and saw them and the crackling red lightning flickering over the devil hunter's body. Those bug-eyes filled with fear as she watched the half-demon trigger right there before her, the armored devil flaring out its wings and letting out an enraged roar as he leapt at her.

The demon clawed at the wall to escape, but was overtaken by the triggered hunter who took insurmountably pleasure in tearing her to pieces as she screamed for mercy.

Once the demonic insect-woman was nothing but a puddle with a few limbs sticking out, Dante turned to make his way back to Nero, panting raggedly as he stared at the deathly white complexion, full lips tinged in blue. He knew for sure now that Nero wasn't breathing, and when he saw something sliding under the younger hunter's skin, he snarled and used his claws to rip open the skin to yank out the remaining parasites wherever he found them. It probably was doing more harm than good, but at that moment, he didn't care, he just wanted them out of his mate where they couldn't cause him anymore pain.

Certain they were all removed, he freed Nero of the wall binding him and the teen's body fell limply against his own. Dante closed his eyes and detriggered as he held onto the unmoving younger man tightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I wasn't here to protect you." He felt like crying, felt like he already was. He didn't care about the fact that he'd won the battle, didn't care about getting out of a dead demon's nest. All he cared about was the corpse – he growled at even thinking the word – he clung to desperately.

Dante opened his eyes when a soft light started to brighten the dark interior of the nest. He looked around with a deep frown, breath hitching as he noticed the source of the light was the kid's devil bringer flickering a weak blue. "…kid?"

Nero's right hand twitched in response to the hopefully whispered word and Dante felt like he'd just stopped himself from falling into that despairing pit that was looming before him. He lifted Nero's face, trying to rouse him, but all he got were a few involuntary twitches and shifts in reply. But it was better than nothing, and they all proved that the younger was really alive.

Weak from relief, Dante collected his mate and stood up, staggering a bit as he tried to get a hold of himself. First priority was to get them out of here and back home, and then he could tend to the wounds he could now see, a couple bleeding rather profusely. But that devil arm was a constant encouraging reminder that he found his eyes drawn to constantly as he started to backtrack back to the surface.

Nero was alive.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **So here's the final chapter. In complete opposition to the last chapter, this one just fell out of my head. Like my brain just plopped onto the document. Gross mental image. There was a lot more I'd thought of doing with it, a lot of things I considered going back and adding, but I decided to hell with it. This story is over and it's time to move on. As a result, the first half is rather angsty, but the last half is sort of an epilogue squished into the final chapter because I'm too lazy to expand it.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom (who have really messed up difficulty ratings in their games)

**Warnings: **Mild angst, dry humor, mentions of mild gore and OoCness (I openly admit to this one here).

**Dedications: **This is for all of my readers, reviewers and lurkers. Some of you followed from pervious works, some of you came in with this story and went back to read Tapestry and it just really made me feel accomplished. Thank you all so much for taking this journey with me. We made it, and even though the ending may not be the best or all that satisfactory, I'm a bit preoccupied now with debating between two other stories I have outlined to work on next!

* * *

**Chapter 12: To Be Loved**

Nero at first didn't want to open his eyes when he surfaced from the black landscape of unconsciousness. He was afraid he would just be back in that nest with those things crawling inside of him and nothing had changed; afraid that he'd just imagined hearing Dante's voice because he was getting desperate.

The moment of truth came and he tried to take in a deep breath, surprised when his chest expanded normally. There was a small twinge when his recently healed lung was stretched a bit too far, but other than that, he could breathe just fine, and that painful weight was gone. His eyes snapped open and he was greeted with the familiar sight of Dante sitting stooped over in a chair next to the bed, head hanging as he slept fitfully, still dressed in all his hunting gear and everything. His heart immediately picked up and Nero slowly moved his right hand over to pinch himself to be sure he was awake. This whole picture was a little too nostalgic.

"Dante?" Nero pushed himself up slowly, feeling a little stiff, but other than that he felt great for someone who had been nearly dead. It was hard to believe that he wasn't just dreaming. He looked down at himself, seeing a couple of bandages on his chest, arm and leg, but they were barely stained pink. Nero peeled off the one on his chest and saw nothing but unblemished skin with a little streak of dried blood. How long had he been out for everything to be completely healed?

And Dante…the man was a complete mess. If he was tired enough to sleep like that, then he'd probably been up for days taking care of Nero again. It made the teen frown. He was always the one causing Dante trouble. To hell with all that damsel in distress crap. Nero swore it wasn't ever going to happen again right then and there as he leaned over the side of the bed and tried to shake Dante awake.

"Hey! Wake up, old man! You dead or what?" He huffed, sitting on the edge of the bed as he glared at the slumbering man. Growling, he fisted a hand and gave Dante a good punch to the stomach. It was probably a little excessive, but hey, the old man's eyes flew open and he shot to his feet in an instant, so it worked.

Dante stumbled a bit, blinking his eyes rapidly to bring everything into focus. He didn't even remember falling asleep, too worried about making sure Nero healed completely before he even thought about himself. Rubbing at his face, Dante finally noticed the glowering punk, awake and obviously feeling better if he felt like punching people. He frankly didn't care that Nero hit him, too relieved to do anything but fall onto the younger man and send them both crashing onto the bed.

"Get off of me!" Nero snapped, flailing a bit as Dante crushed him in one of his bear-hugs. "Ungh! Let go old man! Oh, _hell_, you smell like rotten cheese or something, get away!"

Though he'd thought the last thing he'd feel like doing was laugh, Dante chuckled anyway, pulling away enough to look down at Nero's infuriated face. "You don't exactly smell like a basket of roses, kid." But he kissed him anyway.

The obvious solution to that was for both of them to shower. It took Dante some convincing to let go, and the elder hunter never did release his lover entirely, but they managed to get out of bed and make it to the bathroom. Nero only had the trouble of prying Dante's arms from around his waist so he could start the shower that they were apparently going to share. The younger felt his face flushing with heat at the prospect. It wasn't like they hadn't already seen each other naked. And it wasn't exactly their first shower together either, but for some reason it was embarrassing all the same. Nero didn't think he'd ever get used to the experience.

He was distracted with shedding his boxers and the last of the bandages wrapped around him, so when Dante grabbed him from behind, he felt justified in jumping a bit. Nero sighed and dropped the used gauze aside, shivering lightly as he felt rough stubble scraping over his shoulder, followed by warm breath against his neck.

"All smell aside, how are you feeling?" Dante asked quietly, nudging the younger forward until both of them were squeezed into the narrow shower already filled with steam. Nero closed his eyes and rubbed at his face to try and hide his blush at just the intimacy of the moment in general.

"F-fine. I'm fine, quit asking." He grumbled, trying to shrug off the other's arms. He froze, however, when he felt Dante's fingers tracing over the scar on his stomach. The memories, old and recent, suddenly flooded through him and his eyes welled up, bile rising in the back of his throat. He doubled over and retched, trying to fight it back, but that only made the sick sensation worse.

Dante blinked in surprised before he grabbed onto Nero to keep him from falling to the floor. He didn't take offense to that reaction, instead just sad and angry that his mate had to suffer so much even when they were safe at home. He wrapped his arms tighter around Nero and pressed close against the younger's back, both of them falling into silence, only the pounding drum of the shower's spray filling it.

"I'm sorry." He finally said, nuzzling into Nero's hair.

"For what?" Nero asked, throat still tight but at least he didn't feel like vomiting so much anymore, the older man's arms an incredible source of comfort.

"For not being able to protect you."

Nero squeezed his eyes shut at that and shook his head. _He_ was the one always letting demons get the better of him. "It's not your fault I get into trouble all the time." He whispered.

"No," Dante agreed, "But I'm not doing a very good job in helping you get out of it."

He laughed a little self-mockingly at that. "If you sucked at saving my sorry ass all the time, Dante, I wouldn't be standing here." He pointed out. Dante didn't reply to that, just held him tighter and Nero sighed heavily, placing his hands over the older half-devil's.

After that moment, words just seemed awkward and unnecessary. They only broke apart long enough to help each other clean up and then left the shower together. Dante took the opportunity to change the messy sheets on the bed and Nero insisted on helping. Once that was done, both curled up under the blankets, in each other's arms and almost afraid to fall back asleep, but eventually their tired bodies decided for them, both reluctantly drifting off.

-o-o-o-

Against Dante's insistence, Nero refused to stay in bed for another couple of days. If he let the old man have his way, he'd keep them there forever. Pervert.

However, Nero's recovery was even faster this time than before and the young hunter was ready to get back to his job and maybe retrieve some of his lost manhood by killing every demon in sight. With a burning passion to fight like that, Dante quickly lost any arguments and life resumed as if it had never been interrupted.

After a week or so, Nero was finding it a little odd, though, how the old man would constantly throw demon parts at him on missions. At first he thought the other hunter was just being an asshole, but it was always severed heads and squishy, misshapen hearts that were tossed at him. Dante seemed to be doing it absently too. He'd keep his concentration on whatever he was fighting, but would always go out of his way to rip out a heart or cut off a head and toss it to Nero as he moved on to the next target.

At one point he got fed up with it and the elder's lack of a reason _why_, so Nero braved questioning Lady about it one day.

The devil huntress had laughed heartily at his complaint and then patted him on the back like a child. _"All I can say is that you don't have to worry about him finding someone else. He most definitely is in love with you on an almost sickening level."_

That had been about as helpful as the time he'd tried to get Dante to stop throwing body parts at him and the elder had huffed and slapped him with a demon's liver to change the subject. That was an odd fight he didn't want to remember. Ever.

Nero kept wracking his brain, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with the old man that he would keep doing that. The answer finally came to him in the most unlikely of places. He was brushing his teeth right before bed one night when it suddenly hit him. After they'd both confessed their feelings, he remembered that Dante kept doing things for him, little stupid things, like allowing him the first piece of pizza at mealtime, letting him go out the door first when they went outside, always offering to help him with his coat or to carry any of his weapons if they were too heavy.

He was trying to be thoughtful and romantic.

The young man heaved a sigh and rinsed his mouth. If all that crap was Dante's way of being romantic, then giving Nero the hearts of demons he killed could very well be the elder man's demon side's way of being romantic. It was kind of touching. And stupid, but it made sense.

Nero shook his head as he headed for the bedroom, seeing that Dante was already there, snoring on his side of the bed. He'd complain about the noise, but Nero always hogged the covers, so he figured that made them even. Chuckling to himself at his little realization, he figured that tomorrow he'd start to think of ways he could get back at Dante for all of his 'thoughtfulness'. He pulled back the covers and froze, eyes narrowing at what was lying on his side of the bed.

Another fucking demon head. And it smelled.

"Damn it old man!" Nero snapped. Forget returning the favor, first thing Nero had to figure out was how to convince Dante it was perfectly acceptable to just buy him flowers.


	13. Bonus Chapter

_Alright, I give up, here's the bonus chapter_

**A/N: **I've been working on this for days now, and it just wasn't coming out the way I wanted it to. There were some major plans I had in mind, new things I wanted to try, and I started out strong, but then my plan kinda...fell apart. I had to take things out, had to rewrite certain pieces out of order and then when I put it all together it felt like it wasn't flowing so I went back and reordered again and again until I told myself to stop being such a goddamn perfectionist and call it done. So this is what came to be. I'm not going to lie, there are parts of it that could've been written WAY better. This is definitely not my finest work, but I hope its still satisfactory!

On a totally unrelated note...I love Dante's Devil Trigger, I do. It's amazing, but it still flies like a retarded pidgeon.

**Disclaimer: **Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom.

**Warnings: **Um...uh...where to start...let's just say this section would've been more fun to write if I had done everything I originally planned. Instead you get some mild kink, voyeurism(?), solo, and NxD. Yeah. **N**xD. Nero's topping here again. Plus some fluff.

**Dedications: **For a dear friend of mine who made the sacrifice of reading this and the story it was part of even though she is completely anti- Dante x Nero. Also for **Blood of Dusk** and **Pushka** for updating their stories. You guys totally made me so ridiculously happy to read your work and it convinced me to just call this done. So kudos!

* * *

**Chapter 9.2: Hot Mess (or Devil's Do it Backwards)**

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?"

Nero glared at Dante where the elder was sitting on the opposite end of the bed, drawing up his knees almost defensively. "I mean _no_. As in, 'not a chance in Hell' or 'only in your perverted dreams', old man."

The two of them had been in Dante's room since that morning when Nero woke after sneaking into the half-devil's bed. After that awkward confrontation that ended in both of them confessing their hidden feelings, neither had seen a reason to leave except for basic necessities. Nero wouldn't say it out loud, but he just didn't want to go anywhere. He wanted to stay in this haven they'd made, forget the world and never leave Dante's side. Sappy as that sounded, the older man seemed to be of the same mind. Up until this very moment, there wasn't a second that some part of their bodies weren't touching, mostly due to Dante refusing to remove his hands.

Right now, though, the suggestion the pervert just made was completely ruining that 'lovey-dovey' feel they'd both created. Nero accepted the fact that they were in some form of an official relationship now, and that included certain aspects that they hadn't shared before. Though he'd been mindless, the two hunters _did_ already have sex. Several times in fact. There was no reason for the younger to be acting like a blushing virgin.

But…

"Come on, kid, don't be a prude. How do you know you wouldn't like it?" Dante persuaded, crawling across the distance between them and crowding the younger man against the headboard.

"Because it…it's just sick." Nero mumbled; face red in an instant as he turned his head away. He wasn't used to seeing the other man naked, and right now neither of them was dressed.

"Is it?" Dante hummed, petting at his mate's hair and felt a smug spark of victory as Nero slowly relaxed in spite of himself. "I think it'd be rather sexy myself." He whispered, staring down at Nero's half-enraged, half-embarrassed face. "I bet that demon of yours thinks so too."

Nero tried his best to scowl at that, but damn it, the bastard was right. The instant Dante made his suggestion, the younger's demon side had sat up to attention and started to purr at the mental image created by the elder's words. It wanted to please its new mate and was pushing at him to just give in.

"I wouldn't even know how to go about…doing something like that…" He said hesitantly, gasping when Dante grabbed at his left wrist and leaned away, guiding Nero's hand down between the younger's legs.

"Just touch yourself like I said."

Closing his eyes, Nero fisted his hand against his thigh. It was embarrassing just to think about touching himself while the perverted old man watched, even more so because the thought aroused him, but a foreign part of him wanted to give it a try, wanted to be a little adventurous. Letting out a frustrated breath, the teen opened his eyes and sent Dante a determined look. The old man was challenging him. He _couldn't_ refuse. "Fine. But if I do it, then I get to top you." He remembered doing that at least once during the heat, but he didn't remember what it felt like. If he was going to throw out all of his inhibitions, might as well go all the way, right?

He'd expected Dante to balk, but instead he looked pleased. "Deal."

He was still hesitant to start, but moved his hand up and lightly gripped his half-hard cock a bit awkwardly as he leaned back on his other hand. At first he couldn't look down at all. At himself or at where he knew Dante was sitting and watching eagerly. The first couple of strokes were indifferent, didn't feel good or bad. Nero was beginning to think that this was a bad idea when he made the mistake of glancing towards the elder man.

Nero felt his heart stop in his chest. Dante was sitting on the end of the bed, chin resting in a hand, eyes half-lidded and they weren't even trained on the teen's hand that was still moving idly over his now full erection. Instead those burning eyes were on his face, watching attentively and through that haze of lust was a deeper emotion that had Nero blushing for an entirely different reason. They had only started into this side of their blooming relationship, and yet Nero knew without a doubt that he trusted Dante completely. He wouldn't be doing this otherwise, no matter what arguments the elder gave him. Once he accepted that, Nero found that he could relax.

Confidence rising, he moved his hand a bit slower, tightening his grip on himself and pausing to rub light circles over the pink head. His heart was starting to pound harder and he had to look away from Dante's piercing gaze. It was just as well, since Nero felt his eyes closing of their own accord as he increased the pace of his strokes, little shivers of pleasure skittering up and down his spine.

Still feeling those eyes on his body, Nero quickly discovered that being watched but not touched was making him even hotter. His movements became more natural, falling onto his back as he brought up his demonic hand instead of leaning on it, sucking two armored fingers into his mouth. He forgot modesty, forgot about anything but just the moment he was caught up in. His left hand continued to deliver smooth strokes as he panted heatedly around his fingers, pulling the damp digits from his slackening lips.

He trailed his right hand down his chest, pausing a moment on his stomach while he concentrated on slowing the hand wrapped around his now dripping cock, aiming for a gentler pace as distraction while the hesitant hand slid lower. The talon-tipped fingers curled around his hip and Nero swallowed hard before parting his legs further. His breath caught as he rubbed the wet fingers lightly against the tight ring of muscle he encountered below.

Nero forced his heavy eyes to open, watching Dante's reaction as he got the courage to push one of the slick fingers inside himself. Those watchful eyes darkened, focused on the glowing appendage, the elder's lips parted slightly as his own breath drew short at the arousing display before him. At first it had been trust that encouraged him, but now Nero found that, in pleasuring himself, he could also pleasure Dante. He let his head fall back again, moaning as he pushed his finger in deeper, careful at first but the hot, almost silky muscles clamping around the intrusion broke down his control fast, and a second finger soon joined the first.

Nero let the sensations overtake him again, fingers mimicking the quickening strokes on his throbbing erection, his legs beginning to involuntarily tremble. The pain, the pleasure and the small undertone of shame were all driving Nero crazy and even without seeing it, he could still _feel_ Dante's gaze on his body. But though the teen's soft cries rose in volume and frequency as his burning release drew closer, not once did Dante reach out to touch him. Somehow, the lack of the elder's touch, constantly anticipating something that would never come, made Nero's orgasm all the more intense when it slammed into him.

And though he had nothing to do with it, Nero still screamed Dante's name as he emptied himself, coating his hand and stomach in warm seed.

Removing his hands after a moment of trying to catch his breath, Nero opened his eyes slightly, immediately met with Dante's as the other man was suddenly hovering only a few inches away. It was a bit of a shock, but Nero felt too languid and drained to react beyond a sharp inhale.

"Don't tell me you're done already." Dante taunted, voice low with a husky edge that made the younger's still laboring heart skip a few beats.

"W-what?" he gasped.

"You had your fun, where's mine?"

Nero honestly had no idea what Dante was talking about at first. As the afterglow of his mind-numbing orgasm faded, however, he remembered their deal. If he did what Dante suggested, Nero got to top the older man.

Great, now he was embarrassed all over again.

But a deal was a deal and Nero really did want to try topping when he was in his right mind, so after a few minutes of rest, enduring Dante taking liberties in touching his still sex-flushed body, the younger man finally sat up, ignoring the dull ache in his backside as he placed his hand on Dante's chest, pushing the elder back until he was the one hovering above the other. He really didn't know how to start this either, and his flustered hesitation was showing since Dante chuckled at him, earning the half-devil a glare in response.

"Just do to me what you did to yourself. It looked like it felt good." Dante suggested, still smirking even though he was the one on his back now.

As irritating as that self-assured look was, Nero still took the direction. He figured it was only right to start with a kiss, and though he promised to bottom, Dante still put up a fight for dominance the second Nero's tongue invaded his mouth. The elder hunter was winning the duel, at least until Nero snaked a hand down and gripped the neglected erection straining between them. A few short, hard strokes had Dante gasping and gave the teen the opportunity to dominate the kiss.

Nero was still a little hesitant, but didn't let it show as he broke away from the kiss, continuing the firm strokes; watching Dante's face as the fleeting expression of surprise and then pleasure chased across the strong features. Proud to garner such reactions, he licked at his own fingers again, sucking them into his mouth briefly before he started to slowly move down the elder man's body, tongue darting out occasionally to taste the warm skin stretched over firm muscle. It was a little weird, doing this to someone as opposed to doing it to himself, but Nero boldly gave the thick erection in his palm a gentle squeeze while the fingers of his other hand trailed down lower.

Dante hissed in a breath when he felt Nero pushing a finger into him. It barely stung and he was happily distracted by the lazy strokes on his cock. He shifted a bit to reach a hand down and help direct the teen's motions, silently teaching the kid what he preferred. Not that what Nero was doing was wrong at all. Hell, he was in heaven just having the other touching him. He never thought he'd say it about anyone, but seeing Nero taking charge over him was damn hot. The younger hunter just looked so focused, determined to do everything right. Dante grit his teeth as his back arched suddenly when Nero forced in a second finger, the sharp edge of pain only made the pleasure stand out more and he couldn't stop the moan that was ripped free.

That small sound only encouraged Nero as he did as thorough a job preparing the older hunter as a horny, hot-headed teen could. Dante would've thought the impatience amusing if he weren't caught up in the middle of it all, heat flushing over him as he pushed his hips back against the intruding fingers, shamelessly moaning in approval when they struck at his prostate.

It apparently became too much for Nero to hold back, since the kid took his hands away and crawled back up Dante's body. The half-devil only smiled and wrapped his legs invitingly around Nero's waist. "I love you, you annoying brat."

Nero grunted at that, frowning down at him with a look between disgruntlement and reciprocating the emotion. Dante just tugged him down for a brief kiss, only to break away and throw his head back into the bed when the punk suddenly thrust into him, no doubt as punishment for the name-calling. The younger was forced to pause at the almost unbearably tight heat gripping him.

Heart racing already, Nero hitched in a breath and started a slow, hard rhythm once he could move again, Dante panting beneath him and groaning lightly at every thrust. But again, impatience won and Nero quickened his pace, gripping at Dante's hips and unintentionally adjusting the angle so every thrust stimulated that pleasure spot inside the elder devil hunter.

The air rapidly grew hotter, harder to breathe. And Dante either wasn't aware of or didn't care how his moans came with more frequency, urging the younger hunter on. "_Nero…"_ that was all he could seem to get out, but it was all Nero needed to hear, groaning as he felt the pressure building to an unbearable high, trying to fight back his oncoming orgasm until the elder finished first, fisting his hand around Dante's leaking cock in desperation and stroking in time to the erratic movement of their hips.

Dante couldn't take anymore of the overstimulation, crying out Nero's name hoarsely as he came in the teen's hand. The increased friction from the devil hunter's muscles clamping brutally around him was Nero's undoing as he released only a few thrusts later with a cry of his own.

Nero collapsed onto his chest, but Dante just wrapped his arms around the younger man as both tried to catch their breath. Slowly they began to calm and eventually Nero lifted his head.

"Love you too, you old pervert." The adorably sleepy, satisfied look on his face only tempted Dante all the more to kiss him even as he chuckled at the kid's words.

-o-o-o-

The warm spray fell over him and Nero could only sigh in pleasure at the relaxing sensation of water sliding over his skin. He'd finally managed to crawl away from Dante after the elder fell asleep. He was tired from all the romping around in bed, but he couldn't sleep; too wound up after what he'd just done. Nero carefully placed his demonic hand over his face while his left hand braced him up against the wall. He was absolutely mortified by his own indecent immodesty. Something about Dante just brought out a dark side in him that he didn't think existed. He didn't think it was bad, per se, he was just embarrassed and unused to such behavior coming from himself; sometimes completely without his consent.

So caught up in his thoughts, the young hunter didn't hear someone open the bathroom door and then step into the shower behind him. He only became aware of the smirking being when two strong arms wrapped around his middle and a broad chest pressed into his back. Nero stiffened instantly, a sharp breath hitching in his throat. Instinctively he tried to elbow the offender in the gut, but found his arm caught and pinned above his head.

"C'mon, kid, it wasn't _that_ bad." Dante said teasingly, licking at the small shell of Nero's ear, feeling the other trembling against him. "Didn't mean to scare you." He chuckled.

"Y-you didn't." Nero denied quickly, tugging at his arm until Dante released it, instantly spinning around to glare at the older man, backing up against the shower's wall, briefly considering covering himself, seeing as the pervert was eyeing him up and down like the younger was a piece of meat and he was _starved_. Hadn't he had enough yet? He managed to keep his hands at his sides, refusing to give Dante anything else to tease him about. He just wasn't used to being this intimate with someone. "Get out."

Dante raised an eyebrow at that demand, placing a hand on the wall by Nero's head and leaning in close. "Why? It isn't anything I haven't seen already."

Got him there. Nero heaved a sigh and turned his face away, absently scratching at his nose before he caught himself and quickly jerked his hand back. "I know I'm not an expert, but aren't couples supposed to work their way _up_ to stuff like this?"

The elder only grinned at that and leaned in close enough that their noses touched. "Ah, but didn't I tell you, kid? Devils do it backwards." The deep, provocative way Dante said that only brought up recent memories that had Nero blushing furiously. He tried to cover it up with anger, but he couldn't hide his stutter.

"T-that's stupid! And d-do you mind? Little personal space maybe?" Nero placed both hands on Dante's chest and gave the elder a hard shove that barely garnered him a few inches of breathing space. The small shower could barely hold the two of them, and the heat created from the water that fell over them only made that space seem even smaller. He could feel Dante's heart beating strongly under his palms and his fingers twitched, eyes reluctantly shifting up to meet icy blue orbs that made him feel anything but cold.

As if drawn in, Dante found himself leaning forward until he could capture those sweet lips he was learning tasted absolutely delectable. He didn't bother to rush it, lazily rolling his tongue around Nero's as both took turns tasting the other. He couldn't have imagined a better way to spend his free days. Learning every inch of his young mate's body, discovering those hidden spots, it was almost like he was having sex for the first time again, finding new pleasures right alongside Nero.

When they finally broke away, Dante lightly rubbed his nose against Nero's and grinned when the younger burst out laughing. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know, but I like it, think I'll do it again," he wasn't daunted by the young man trying to half-heartedly fend him off, nuzzling into Nero's cheek and nibbling at his ear, enjoying the sound of the other's laughter. Nero didn't laugh enough, Dante decided, and made it his goal from then on to change that.

Once the laughter faded and the kid relaxed against him, Dante rested his chin on Nero's head, absently trailing one hand along the almost graceful line of the teen's back. His heart was racing at just holding Nero, but he liked it; hoped that he didn't ever stop having that reaction. This was _his_, and he would do everything within his power to keep it.

"Dante?" He felt Nero stir slightly and pulled back, staring back into those passionate, entrancing eyes.

"Hm?" Dante was curious what Nero was going to say, but then became concerned when the younger's features suddenly twisted into an odd expression, his nose crinkling, all of it happening in a split second and he never got the chance to react before Nero sneezed on him.

The young man's eyes went wide as he covered his nose and mouth, at first mortified at what he'd done, but quickly dissolved into another fit of laughter that was almost painful to restrain. "T-the look on your face is priceless!"

Dante closed his eyes and sighed, wiping at his face and was never happier to be in a shower since he could clean himself. "Thanks a lot, punk. Love you too."

Nero just laughed harder.

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**Hope you enjoyed. Gimme some love and review so I won't feel so awkward about this, lol!**


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